Rubio's triple-double lifts Wolves over Spurs

Wolves fans do have Ricky Rubio, though. And that was enough on Tuesday night.

Rubio had his first career triple-double with 21 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists, leading the Timberwolves to a 107-83 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.

"That's the first one of many to come," Wolves guard J.J. Barea said.

Rubio made 9 of 17 shots and grabbed his 10th board with 9:14 to play in the game, earning a standing ovation from the long-suffering Wolves fans. Alexey Shved broke out of a big slump to score 16 points and Barea had 17 for the Wolves, who hit 12 3-pointers.

"I just try to be aggressive all the time," Rubio said. "Stats are the last thing I try to watch. The victory is the most important thing."

Stephen Jackson had 14 points and Danny Green 10 for the Spurs, who left Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard at home to rest after they throttled Oklahoma City on Monday night. San Antonio turned the ball over 17 times, leading to 30 points for Minnesota, and shot just 35.4 percent.

The team with the best record in the West lost to Portland by 30 on Friday and then was drilled by one of the worst teams in the conference on Tuesday night.

"We've got to get things together and go back to who we were," said Manu Ginobili, who had seven points on 2-for-10 shooting. "Because it's happening too often now."

A season that started with high expectations quickly unraveled for the Wolves thanks to a bevy of injuries. They are 7-25 since Kevin Love broke his right hand for the second time on Jan. 8. One of the few bright spots during this awful stretch has been Rubio's gradual return from a torn knee ligament last March.

He's really turned it on over the last month, and he put an exclamation point on his return against the Spurs.

"He's playing with such a resolve just trying to get us over the hump," coach Rick Adelman said. "You see it. He's had that effort, but we had so many people step up tonight and it really made a big difference."