Wolves Come up Short At Home

Wolves Postgame Audio
Ryan Gomes

Randy Foye

No Danny Granger, no Mike Dunleavy...no problem for Indiana.

In a battle of attrition without their best players, Minnesota fell to the Pacers 112-105 on Friday night at the Target Center.

The Wolves at one point trailed by 20 points but fought hard in the final minutes to inch within five points in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. Randy Foye led the charge with 14 points in the final stanza and a career-high, 36 points in the loss that dropped Minnesota to 18-36 on the season.

"It was like we couldn't get anything going," head coach Kevin McHale said. "In the fourth quarter we put a run on them but I don't know, it was like we couldn't get energized on the defensive end, couldn't get stops to run out on them."

Free throw shooting and turnovers killed any momentum from the Wolves as the team fell to 1-3 without Al Jefferson in the lineup. Minnesota reached the free throw line 41 times but only connected on 56.1 percent of its attempts. The Wolves were haunted by 19 turnovers in the loss in an effort to speed up the pace of the game.

"We take care of the ball, have 12 or 13 turnovers and shoot a decent percentage from the free throw line and the game is ours, but we didn't do it, and those are things you have to do," McHale said.

Ryan Gomes shared the spotlight with Foye as the small forward recorded a season-high, 26 points on 10-of-19 shooting from the field. Mike Miller was the only other scoring option for the Wolves and finished with 18 points.

In a night that featured two short-handed teams, Sebastian Telfair and Kevin Love struggled to give Minnesota any offensive production. Coming off a 30-point performance in Miami on Wednesday night, Telfair only scored five points and struggled to find any rhythm throughout the contest.

Indiana received a solid effort from Marquis Daniels, who hit a jumper from the right side of the floor in the final minutes to stiff-arm any comeback attempt from the Wolves. Troy Murphy added 16 points and 14 boards to help lift the Pacers to a 23-34 overall record on the season.

Minnesota will welcome two new players to the roster tomorrow at practice. On Thursday, the team acquired Shelden Williams and Bobby Brown from Sacramento for Rashad McCants and Calvin Booth. Both players are in Minneapolis but did not dress for the game on Friday night.

The road does not get any easier with a game against the defending Western Conference champs on Sunday night. The Lakers make their final appearance of the regular season at the Target Center and look for their third victory against the Wolves this year.

Matt's Stats

Fan Reactions: "I think Sheldon Williams will step right in for Al. He's basically playing for his career. He led the ACC in blocks, so he could be good on defense." Eric, 29, West St. Paul "Play Kevin Love and get him time. Miller needs to shoot more. I'm excited to see Sheldon Williams play." Todd, 39, Sioux Falls "Next year should be good with our draft picks. Draft smart and things will look good for next year." Ryan, 28, Coon Rapids

-- Looking at the box score, the biggest thing that jumps off the page to explain the Wolves' loss is the 23-for-41 free throw shooting. It was the second most free throw attempts the Wolves have taken and the most free throws they've missed this season. Notable in their free throw futility were Kevin Love (3-for-6), Sebastian Telfair (2-for-5), and Craig Smith (3-for-8), all very unusual for them. Minnesota is ranked 14th in the league for free throw percentage a respectable 77.25 precent.

-- Both teams surrendered 25 points off of turnovers. The Pacers coughed it up 17 times, while the Wolves did 19 times, led by Mike Miller's seven. Their 19 turnovers was tied for the second most all season, and was just two shy of their season high of 21, which they had Wednesday night against Miami. Strangely enough, the Wolves were previously 3-0 when committing at least 19 turnovers this season.

-- Kevin Love struggled offensively and finished with just five points, but had another strong rebounding night, finishing with 12. He is on an 11 game streak of having at least nine rebounds.

-- Troy Murphy of the Pacers had a double-double by halftime with 11 points and 11 rebounds, and finished with 16 points and 14 boards. The unorthodox big man hit three three-pointers but was just 1-for-6 on attempts from inside the arc.

-- Six fans seated behind the Wolves basket were give access to live box scores and stats sheets between quarters, just like members of the media, throughout the game as a new premium seating option the Wolves are testing out. It remains to be seem whether this new, more connected way of watching the game will catch on.

--Matt Everhart