Wolves outlast woeful Pistons

Published 9:22 am Thursday, January 19, 2012

MINNEAPOLIS — When the shots weren’t falling for Minnesota in the past, the Timberwolves simply had no chance.

Now Rick Adelman’s crew has suddenly turned into a solid defensive unit, and the Wolves needed to be against the Detroit Pistons.

Kevin Love had 20 points and 17 rebounds and the Timberwolves overcame a dreadful start to the game to slug out a 93-85 victory over the Pistons on Wednesday night.

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Anthony Tolliver had 11 points off the bench and shut down Tayshaun Prince in the fourth quarter to help the Timberwolves to their third win in four games. They had 11 steals, scored 23 points off 19 turnovers and held the Pistons to 14 points in the decisive final quarter.

“We’re just a lot tougher than definitely we were last year,” Tolliver said of his Timberwolves, who were the worst defensive team in the league last season. “We just get tougher by the game.”

Prince finished with 29 points, but scored only four in the fourth as the Pistons gave away a 13-point third-quarter lead. The Pistons missed 11 free throws to lose for the ninth time in 10 games.

The Timberwolves trailed by 16 in the second quarter and didn’t hold a lead until there was less than nine minutes to play in the game.

“We can’t keep playing well for 42 minutes and then the last six minutes give the game away,” said Pistons big man Greg Monroe, who had 13 points and 12 boards before fouling out. “As a team, we have to get better and finishing and putting the game away.”

Ricky Rubio had nine points, eight assists, seven rebounds and six steals, making up for 1-for-8 shooting with some stellar playmaking down the stretch. He went around his back on a drive to the basket in the third quarter, then split a double team and found Wayne Ellington for a 3-pointer and an 88-81 lead that essentially put the game away.

Ben Gordon finished with 18 points, but the Pistons shot just 47 percent on free throws after entering the game third in the league at 80 percent.