Game Preview: Timberwolves vs. Pacers

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Game Preview: Timberwolves vs. Pacers

Thursday, Jan. 26, 2017 at 7 p.m. at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota

MATCHUP:

After an impressive 5 game win streak to start out January, the Indiana Pacers are in a bit of a tail spin. They’ve lost 3 games in a row, including two from the mediocre Lakers and Knicks. The team is at a middling 22-22, and comes off as somewhat disappointing considering the way they outplayed expectations the previous year and the myriad of moves they made over the course of the off season. If the Timberwolves are able to pull off a win tonight, it would be their first time winning 4 games in a row since the 12-13 season.

PROJECTED STARTERS:

Timberwolves:

PG: Ricky Rubio #9
SG: Zach LaVine #8
SF: Andrew Wiggins #22
PF: Gorgui Dieng #5
C: Karl-Anthony Towns #32

Pacers:

PG: Jeff Teague #44
SG: C.J. Miles #0
SF: Paul George #13
PF: Thaddeus Young #21
C: Myles Turner #33

INJURY REPORT:

Timberwolves: Nikola Pekovic – out/season (recurring ankle pain)

Pacers: Monta Ellis – day-to-day (ankle), Aaron Brooks – day-to-day (knee), Rodney Stuckey – out (hamstring)

LAST MEETING:

Minnesota and Indiana faced off two times the previous season, with the Pacers winning both games.

The Wolves were unable to close out a tight meeting against the Pacers despite surprising fourth court heroics on behalf of the young Minnesota squad. A debilitating second quarter (Indiana led 61-50 going into the half), and a relatively quiet offensive game from Towns (he scored 12 points on 9 shots in 27 min) contributed to the sixth loss of the season. Minnesota was still figuring out the construction of the roster at this point in the season. 10 players played 10 or more minutes in the game, with Gorgui playing a meager 11:24 at the 4 and 5 spot in favor of Nemanja Bjelica, Kevin Garnett, and Tayshaun Prince. Yikes. The Wolves shot fairly well, but turnovers were killer and Paul George was just having one of those nights like he did many times last season. Indiana won 103-107.

The two teams’ next meeting was one of the more perplexing games of the season. Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, and Ricky Rubio all shot better than .500 from the field 58 points, but the bench was an absolute black hole. Zach Lavine finished at a game worst -20 with 9 points on 10 shots. Gorgui Dieng played 34:31 and finished with 7 points and 6 turnovers.

Paul George had as close to an iffy game as he could get, ending the game 7-16 with 18 points and five turnovers, but excellent bench play helped elevate the Pacers. Chase Budinger managed a bit of a revenge against his former team, finishing the night with 11 points and 2 steals. The Wolves lost 88-102.

NOTEWORTHY:

In an effort to increase team pace (a jump from 11th to 8th this season), the Pacers defense has taken a substantial hit, going from 3rd in the league last year to 15th. Guys like Paul George and Myles Turner may bring the Wolves trouble, but their should be exploitable areas on offense at almost every other position. Let’s hope the Wolves current taste of winning makes them a little hungrier going forward 

BROADCAST INFORMATION:

TV: Fox Sports North – Dave Benz (play-by-play), Jim Peterson (analyst)

Radio: 830 WCCO-AM – Alan Horton (play-by-play)

(Stats found on nba.com, and basketball-reference.com)