THE FACTS: In a game between two teams whose playoff ambitions ended shortly after the Christmas present were opened, the Minnesota Timberwolves took a nice step toward closing out a frustrating season in a positive manner, defeating the Phoenix Suns 105-93. Minnesota did not shoot as well as Phoenix and, with their starting center, Nikola Pekovic out with a calf contusion, they were outrebounded by Phoenix. But they took care of the ball and forced Phoenix into turnover after turnover. The Suns opened an early lead with an 11-0 first quarter run, but their inability to hold on to the ball allow Minnesota to whittle that lead down. Ricky Rubio led the way for Minnesota, filling up the stat sheet, as he has done of late. He finished with 24 points, 10 assists, five rebounds, and five steals. J.J. Barea came off the bench for Minnesota and scored his points in bunches at key times in the game. Markieff Morris had 20 points on 8-for-11 shooting (3-for-4 from beyond the arc) to go with nine rebounds. But he and his front court partner, Luis Scola together accounted for 12 of Phoenix’s turnovers.

From: http://www.nba.com/data/html/nbacom/gameinfo/20130413/0021201193_notebook.html?rss=true