Indiana Pacers News

Pacers Links: Pacers leave Minnesota with a loss after chasing Timberwolves all night

Far too many turnovers by the Pacers fueled a strong transition attack by Minnesota which led to another loss for the blue and gold. The Pacers are now 3-3 in their last six games.

By Tom Lewis@IndyCornrows Feb 20, 2014, 7:00am EST

/ new

After the Pacers won the opening tip in Minnesota, it didn't take long for things to start going wrong. Within ten seconds, Paul George tried to feed Roy Hibbert as three Minnesota players collapsed on him and the Big Dawg couldn't get a grip on the ball leading to the first of 21 turnovers on the game for the Pacers.

All of those turnovers helped fuel a transition game for the Timberwolves that allowed them to run past the Pacers for the win. Minnesota is one of the top transition teams in the league, which was easy to see last night with Kevin Love's full-court outlet pass ability and Corey Brewer's sprint out game. Talk about turnovers for touchdowns, they were like Manning and Harrison, or I guess, Culpepper and Moss.

In the Pacers win over Minnesota at the Fieldhouse in November, they held the Wolves to just six transition buckets. Last night, Minnesota cashed in 18 points on the run which included Brewer making four of his five baskets by getting behind the defense for a layup or dunk. When you add that to the monster games from Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio, the Pacers did well to hang around as long as they did.

It was nice to see Frank Vogel shake up his playing rotation in the second half to give Chris Copeland, Luis Scola's minutes. Scola was doing more harm than good in the first half, so there was nothing to lose and Cope offered a brief spark but unfortunately, the Pacers didn't have anything resembling a win in them last night.

Check out the links:

Pacers at Timberwolves - Box score

Game Rewind: Pacers 91, Timberwolves 104 | THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE INDIANA PACERS

Pacers defense leaky in loss to Wolves | Indianapolis Star | indystar.com

Love has 42 points, 16 boards, Wolves beat Pacers - AP

Minnesota Timberwolves: Kevin Love scores 42 in win over Pacers - TwinCities.com

Saunders refutes report that Wolves' Love has asked to opt out | Star Tribune

Pacers feel the Love in loss to Timberwolves - 1070 The Fan

Wolves beat Pacers 104-91 - Canis Hoopus

George Hill stays assertive through a cold | Indianapolis Star | indystar.com

Kevin Love doesn’t get why everyone thinks he’s itching to ditch Minnesota and join the Lakers | Ball Don't Lie - Yahoo Sports

Post-Game Grades: Wolves Manhandle Pacers | 8 Points, 9 Seconds