On Wednesday the Minnesota Timberwolves lost their third consecutive game, dropping the first half of a home-and-home series with the Indiana Pacers.
For a brief period of time on Wednesday, there appeared to be a chance that the Minnesota Timberwolves might get Karl-Anthony Towns back from injury/illness and that the Indiana Pacers might be without top big man Domantas Sabonis.
Alas, Towns sat out once again and Sabonis played and dominated. Consequently, the Wolves lost their third consecutive game, dropping their season record to 15-25.
Sabonis, who tied his season-high with 29 points, dropped 25 in the first half and was the only reason the Pacers stayed in the game prior to halftime. After the break, the game was controlled by Malolm Brogdon and the Pacers’ steady mid-range attack.
To make matters worst, the Wolves shot just 5-of-26 from the field in the third quarter. That’s 19.2 percent, if you’re scoring from home.
Minnesota struggled to get anything going offensively but still managed to hang around for the entirety of the second half, even pushing back on a deficit that hovered near double-digits for much of the final frame. The Wolves were within two possessions for much of the final minutes but were unable to get any closer.
Most of the Wolves’ roster simply did not appear to be in sync in this game, with only Jarrett Culver, Keita Bates-Diop and Robert Covington providing consistent effort on both ends of the floor.
Player Grades
Other Players
Jeff Teague had nine points and 3-of-6 shooting and five assists with a block and a rebound and only one turnover. He was somewhat of a steady hand in this one in only 19 minutes and probably deserved to play a bit more than that given Napier’s struggles.
Josh Okogie led the Wolves with 22 minutes off the bench but only mustered two points, coming on an impressive baseline drive and dunk. He was quiet otherwise, however.
Noah Vonleh had six points and five rebounds off the bench but struggled in the paint, missing a couple of easy shots around the rim. Naz Reid only played eight minutes in the game following his career-high, 20-point performance against Oklahoma City, but that was more due to a tough matchup against the Pacers than anything else.
Up Next
The Wolves head to Indianapolis to take on this same Pacers team on Friday evening at 6 p.m. CT.