SAN ANTONIO -- Tony Parker scored 23 points and the San Antonio Spurs reversed their poor foul shooting in the final quarter for an 83-77 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.
The Spurs were 4-for-11 at the line in the first three quarters, but shot 7-for-8 in the final period. Manu Ginobili made all four of his free throws in the final 25 seconds.
A long jumper by Wally Szczerbiak cut San Antonio's lead to 69-68 with more than six minutes remaining. Parker then made a floater in the lane and Ginobili, who finished with 21 points, had a short jumper and a pair of free throws to push the Spurs' lead to seven.
Minnesota was within 79-74 with a minute left, but Ginobili hit two more foul shots and Kevin Garnett missed a finger roll and a layup.
Garnett, who finished with 18 points and 17 rebounds, picked up his fifth foul late in the third. He sat out until 8:42 of the fourth, but managed to score only two points on free throws in the quarter.
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Bruce Bowen scored a season-high 14 points for San Antonio, and Tim Duncan had 12 points on 5-for-19 shooting and 14 rebounds.
Marko Jaric had 16 points, and Szczerbiak added 15 for the Timberwolves.
Jaric made his first three shots, including two 3-pointers, as the Timberwolves took an early 12-7 lead. Parker countered by scoring nine of the Spurs' first 13 points.
The score was tied at 22 after the first quarter, and 7 minutes later, a tip-in by Garnett made it 29-28 Minnesota.
The scoring pace picked up after that, as the teams swapped leads until a lay-up by Parker tied it at 39 with less than a minute before halftime.
After shooting better than 50 percent in the first, the Timberwolves fell off to 6-for-20 (30 percent) in the second. Duncan made only one of his seven attempts in the half.
Parker got the rebound off his own missed layup and found Duncan coming down the lane for a dunk that gave San Antonio a 50-45 lead midway through the third quarter.
A drive by Jaric and a short jumper by Garnett cut the difference to 51-50, but Garnett picked up his fifth foul about a minute later and sat down.
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NOTES: Minnesota is 15-15, but retains a half-game lead over Utah in the Northwest Division. The Jazz lost to Memphis on Friday. ... Nick Van Exel made a 3-pointer for the Spurs, and is eight short of 1,500 for his career. ... Jaric, averaging 10.2 points, has scored 38 points in the last two games. ... San Antonio outscored Minnesota 54-30 in the paint.
