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The Pacers preseason losses continued to mount in Minnesota as the blue and gold lost another game and another player in the process.
George Hill scored 14 points and then joined David West, Rodney Stuckey and C.J. Watson on the injury report with a knee contusion after banging his left knee going after a loose ball in the third quarter. As with the other injuries, Hill's appears to be a short-term pain but no threat for the long-term health of the team in the regular season.
The only problem is that as Frank Vogel tries to piece together a new playing rotation, it would really help to have these key guys available to work out the kinks together. But with only one more practice game on Thursday, it appears that work will have to be done in practice and then bleed into the start of the regular season.
Not ideal, as C.J. Miles mentioned in Candace Buckner's game report.
"(It's) frustrating because you're trying to do the right thing, not frustrating with each other," Miles said. "Frustrating because everybody's trying to do the right thing. It gets tough when you're trying to do the right thing and (nothing) happens. It's just about not overthinking the game and just playing hard; that's what we're getting over now.
"Guys trying to figure out that balance of understanding what we do but also playing basketball, not turning into a robot," Miles continued. "You see guys when they should've made a play but they didn't because they're trying to stay within of what we're doing and times when they try to make a play but they run into somebody because the other person is trying to do (the same). It's just about learning each other and learning each other's spots."
Check out a few links:
Pacers at Timberwolves - Box score
Game Rewind: Pacers 89, Timberwolves 107 (Preseason) | Indiana Pacers
Pacers, minus most starters, fall to Timberwolves
Healthy Bennett, Budinger drive win over Pacers | Star Tribune
Pacers getting to basics after losing George - AP
Sponsors, fans stick with Pacers | Indianapolis Business Journal | IBJ.com