NBA Game Summary - Detroit at Minnesota

Minneapolis, MN (SportsNetwork.com) - Nik Pekovic had 17 points and 10 rebounds as the Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the Detroit Pistons 97-91 on Thursday night.

Thaddeus Young posted 19 points, Ricky Rubio supplied 11 points and eight assists and Mo Williams added 13 points and four assists for Minnesota, which fell at Memphis in its opener Wednesday night.

"Good win overall, I thought that we played pretty good defense for most of the game. Played hard, played aggressive," Wolves head coach Flip Saunders said.

Caron Butler tallied 24 points and eight rebounds off the bench to lead the Pistons, who lost at Denver to open their season Wednesday.

D.J. Augustin provided 20 points and six assists, while Andre Drummond put up 11 points and 12 boards in defeat.

After Butler's triple tied the game at 88-88 with 1:43 left in the fourth, Minnesota outscored Detroit 9-3 the rest of the way.

Young knocked down a three at the other end and following Drummond's missed hook shot, Williams banked in a runner to give the Wolves a 93-88 advantage with 52.4 seconds to play.

Drummond split a pair of foul shots for Detroit before Minnesota sunk 4-of-6 foul shots to seal the outcome.

Earlier, the game was tied 21-21 after a quarter of play and Young's late jumper in the first half gave the Wolves a 45-44 edge heading into the locker room.

A 15-2 Minnesota third-quarter run helped it build a 70-51 spread at the 4:56 mark and took a 75-65 margin into the fourth.

"We just absolutely melted down," Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy said.

Butler netted the first six points during a 12-0 Detroit spurt, which Drummond capped with a layup to pull the Pistons within 80-79 just before the midway point of the fourth.