Timberwolves Wrap: Wolves dominated by Pacers

In an unexpected turn of events, the Timberwolves were blown out on their home court by the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday night.

The Timberwolves followed up an exciting, buzzer-beating win in Oklahoma City on Sunday evening by falling flat on their faces against a likely lottery team in the Indiana Pacers.

It would be fair to start by noting that Jimmy Butler was not with the team due to an upper respiratory infection. A team missing it’s best player can be expected to suffer, of course, but staying competitive for 48 minutes shouldn’t have been too much to ask.

Alas, the Wolves fell behind by as many as 16 points in the first quarter. They roared back, largely behind their bench, to take a brief lead and ultimately head into halftime in a game tied at 61.

The third quarter started well, too. The Wolves led by five points just prior to the halfway point of the frame, but the Pacers surged ahead. And they never stopped surging.

As the carnage was still setting in, Wolves radio broadcaster Alan Horton shared the following:

After the tweet, the Wolves actually got down by as many as 26 points before putting up a minimal fight over the final six minutes and change and getting it back to 16 before waiving the white flag and giving minutes to some of the end-of-the-bench guys.

What went wrong? Close to everything. Save for a dominate stretch from Karl-Anthony Towns to start the second half and a flurry of 3-pointers from Nemanja Bejelica, there were no individual performances to write home about. Jeff Teague played poorly for the third time in four games. Andrew Wiggins struggled, most notably at the free throw line, where he made just one of six attempts.

The defense was the biggest issue. Effort was there in digging out of the initial hole, with Wolves defenders scrambling to contest jumpers and largely being solid in their rotations. But as the game slipped away in the third quarter, the defense went from passable to atrocious. And then, the shots wouldn’t fall on offense — from the field or even at the charity stripe.

This was the exact type of game that playoff teams win. At home, on a day’s rest, against a poor Eastern Conference team. Even without Jimmy Butler. And now, they have to travel to Detroit for the second game of a back-to-back.

Tweets of the Night

Key Takeaways

• This was brutal, in case that tone didn’t already come across. There’s some folks that have already pushed that shiny, red panic button, but it seems a bit premature. Sure, it would be pretty Wolvesy to hire the best coach on the market in April of 2016 and have him simply not mesh (read: be able to get them to play defense) with the two players who are supposed to be the stars in Towns and Wiggins. But hang on a moment: we’re four games in with a roster that has seen a ton of turnover. Let’s take a few deep breaths.
• Towns was unstoppable early in the third quarter. Yeah, he should have been when guarded one-on-one by Domantas Sabonis, but it was fun to watch.
• Bjelica is playing with a lot of confidence. If this continues, it’ll be huge for the bench unit.
• Jamal Crawford spearheaded the Wolves comeback in the first half, but contributed to the rapid third quarter downfall. J-Crossover giveth, J-Crossover taketh away.

Player of the Game

Victor Oladipo: 28 points (11-16 FG, 2-4 3P, 4-4 FT), 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 4 turnovers

Oladipo certainly appears to have a found the jumper that he was missing early in his career in Orlando, and last year in OKC, he was a victim of the Westbrook-for-MVP campaign.

He’ll get to shoot the ball a ton on this year’s edition of the Pacers. If Tuesday night was any indication, he’ll score a lot of points, too.

Notable Box Score Lines

• Karl-Anthony Towns: 28 points (12-17 FG, 0-1 3P, 4-4 FT), 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers
• Jamal Crawford: 18 points (5-15 FG, 4-8 3P, 4-5 FT), 9 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers
• Nemanja Bjelica: 18 points (6-10 FG, 4-8 3P, 2-2 FT), 2 assists, one rebound, one steal, one block, 2 turnovers
• Andrew Wiggins: 7 points (3- 9 FG, 0-3 3P, 1-6 FT), 4 rebounds, 2 assists, one steal, one turnover
• Jeff Teague: 2 points (1-7 FG, 0-1 3P), 7 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, 3 turnovers

As mentioned, Towns was solid overall, minus some (unfortunately typical) laziness when it came to transition defense. Crawford was great early but brutal late.

Bjelica was awesome as a spot-up shooter again. Wiggins was horrible all night and appears to have completely forgotten how to shoot free throws. Teague was even worse, looking lost on offense and disinterested on defense.

Next: Jimmy Butler's defense is vital for the Timberwolves

What’s Next?

The Wolves will have an opportunity to turn around an atone for Tuesday night’s misery as they’ll lace ’em up for a 6:00 p.m. Central Time tilt with the Detroit Pistons, who were beat handily by the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night.