MEMPHIS, Tenn., April 16 (Ticker) -- The Minnesota Timberwolves finally have a chance to prove that home-court advantage makes a difference in the playoffs.

NBA TV highlights from Wolves-Grizzlies: 56k | 300k

Kevin Garnett had 19 points, 16 rebounds and eight assists and Wally Szczerbiak scored 17 points as the Timberwolves secured fourth place in the Western Conference with a 95-87 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.

Minnesota (51-31) has been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in each of the last six seasons. But the Timberwolves have home-court advantage for the first time, as Wednesday's win ensured they would host a potential Game Seven in the opening round.

"The difference this year is that we have home-court advantage, and that is big," Garnett said."Now we have to take advantage of it."

"Our goal all year was to get home-court advantage," Szczerbiak said. "We accomplished that. We worked hard as a team, stayed together, won 51 games and that's a pretty tough accomplishment."

Garnett, among the favorites for Most Valuable Player, fell just two rebounds shy of his league-leading seventh triple-double of the season.

"I made sure everybody was ready, made sure everybody knew what we were ding and that's all I can do," he said. These are grown men and I just try to lead and sort of direct. Hopefully, they follow."

Minnesota had an 11-point lead after Szczerbiak opened the fourth quarter with a layup. But Memphis scored 12 of the next 17 points and pulled within 81-77 on Wesley Person's 3-pointer with 6:34 to go.

After Minnesota's Rod Strickland made 1-of-2 free throws, Anthony Peeler buried a 3-pointer and Garnett sank a fadeaway jumper to give the Timberwolves an 87-77 cushion with 5:07 remaining.

Garnett gave Minnesota its biggest lead at 95-83 on a turnaround jumper with 2:15 left.

Pau Gasol collected 18 points and 14 rebounds and Shane Battier scored 18 points for Memphis (28-54), which finished with the best regular season in franchise history.

"We will look at what we have done and where we rank," Grizzlies coach Hubie Brown said. "You have highs and lows, that is why we stayed so demanding with this team. You never want guys to think they can't win."

"I had a lot of good expectation for this team," Gasol said. "I am pretty satisfied with the season collectively. We worked very hard and did our best. We are a very young team. We put our heart in every game and played hard every night. We have to be proud of ourselves."

The Grizzlies shot just 41 percent (35-of-85) from the field and made only 12-of-23 free throws.

"We were playing a team that was fighting to get home-court advantage for the playoffs for the first time in seven years and if we had not missed 11 foul shots, we would have won the game," Brown said. "There was nobody scaring or beating us up. All of a sudden tonight, we couldn't make foul shots."

The Grizzlies have lost eight straight meetings with Minnesota and are 0-7 in the series since moving to Memphis.

Garnett had 11 points and seven rebounds as the Timberwolves never trailed in the first half. Minnesota had a 47-43 halftime advantage.

Szczerbiak, who scored 12 points in the third quarter, capped 1 10-0 burst with a layup to open the fourth quarter and give Minnesota a 76-65 lead.