The Minnesota Timberwolves began their post Kevin Love era with a loss in their first preseason game to the Indiana Pacers. Minnesota fans had their eyes on Andrew Wiggins and Thaddeus Young in this one, while Indiana fans were looking to see how their team would respond after losing Paul George to injury and Lance Stephenson to costless agency.
The mission for the Pacers during these preseason games is to figure out who will fill in the void left behind by George and Stephenson. In this first game, it seemed like Rodney Stuckey and Roy Hibbert wanted to be the ones to fill in their shoes. However, George Hill led the team in scoring with 17 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals.
Hibbert and Stuckey did come out aggressive in the first quarter, combining for 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting and pacing Indiana to a 30-20 lead at the end of one. For the Timberwolves, Thaddeus Young did not disappoint. He scored 10 of his 12 in the first period. However, Wiggins came out slow, hitting his first field goal late in the second quarter.
The Pacers controlled most of the first half, but the Timberwolves made a late surge in the second quarter to close the gap to four. The first half was capped off by a three-point buzzer beater by Donald Sloan.
In the second half, Wiggins came alive, connecting on two quick jumpers early in the third. He also racked up two blocks in the same quarter as he was slowly showing his complete skillset. Roy Hibbert and David West did not play a minute in the second half, so Lavoy Allen was the catalyst for Indiana, scoring 10 quick points in the third. He will definitely need to play a key role since Ian Mahinmi will be out for quite some time with a shoulder injury.
With terrific execution, the Pacers extended their lead to 20 at the end of the third period, and they closed out the game to win with a final score of 103-90.
The Pacers looked fantastic, despite losing two of their best players from last season. They got it done collectively as a team and led for most of the game. Rookie Damjan Rudez looked solid and should be in Frank Vogel’s rotation during the regular season.
For Minnesota, with Flip Saunders resting Nikola Pekovic, Gorgui Dieng performed like he did late last season, scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 boards. Andrew Wiggins’ solid second half gave him game-high honors of 18 points. One negative for the Timberwolves was the continuous shooting struggles for Ricky Rubio, who only scored 2 points on 1-6 from the field.
Both teams will be back in action on October 10. The Indiana Pacers will play the Orlando Magic, as the Minnesota Timberwolves take on the Philadelphia 76ers.