Full game coverage will be provided at Timberwolves.com later tonight and into tomorrow, so check back for a full game recap, postgame interviews and game highlight's from tonight's win in Fargo.
End Q4: And this one is over here at the Fargodome, with the Wolves pulling out a 84-70 victory. The Pacers did play tonight without Danny Granger, David West and George Hill, but even with the missing starters the Wolves put together a strong effort that kept the announced crowd of 9,163 in the game. Minnesota's starters led the way, including 14 points from Nikola Pekovic, 13 from Brandon Roy (on 5-of-9 shooting) and 12 points, eight rebounds from Kevin Love. Offensively the team had rust shooting the ball, but Chase Budinger showed he could hit open 3-pointers and Pek was a force inside--particularly in the third. Defensively, Andrei Kirilenko put together a three-steal effort and Stiemsma recorded two blocks in 13 minutes. The Wolves next game is Friday on the road against the Pacers in Indianapolis. Final Score: MIN 84, IND 70
Q4 - 2:53: Loved the Wolves trip down the court a moment ago. Alexey Shved made a move to the basket and got to the hoop, but his lay-up attempt was emphatically swatted by Sam Young. Shved looks back at Young and gives him a 'Well played' look before going back to work. Final minutes here at the Fargodome, and the Wolves are sending out Conroy, Shved, Mike Harris, Cunningham and Amundson out of this timeout. MIN 80, IND 62
Q4 - 5:30: Just minutes left in this one, and the Wolves have the game in hand up 77-60. The starters are likely gone for the night, as Adelman took them out earlier and said pregame that they would likely play on three quarters. Heading into this timeout the Wolves had Conroy, Shved, Budinger, Cunningham and Amundson on the floor. Shved continues to show he is active defensively, denying his man a clear path to the basket, and he also has unique court vision that should help his teammates get open looks. So far, he's done it for Williams and Budinger on multiple occasions tonight. MIN 77, IND 60.
End Q3: The third quarter ends with Andrei Kirilenko being called for offensive goaltending as JJ Barea's drive and lay-in attempt was sitting inside the cylinder. But the Wolves are bringing a 69-51 lead into the fourth, and as the quarter begins Barea, Budinger, Kirilenko, Williams and Stiemsma are on the floor. MIN 69, IND 51.
Q3 - 2:24: Pekovic continues to be active in the paint. He's 3-of-6 with eight points this quarter, and his latest just put the Wolves up 66-48 with 2:24 left in the quarter. Coming out of the timeout, Chase Budinger is entering in place of Brandon Roy, giving the Wolves a Barea, Budinger, Kirilenko, Love and Pekovic lineup. MIN 66, IND 48.
Q3 - 6:06: Lots of activity down low right now between centers Nikola Pekovic and Roy Hibbert. It's preseason, but this is one matchup that isn't hindered by missing starters in the Pacers' starting lineup. Hibbert was an All-Star last year and is a physical post player, and Pek is going toe to toe with him tonight. Hibbert has five points and four rebounds, and he also has four personal fouls. Pekovic has eight points and five boards. Meanwhile, Roy is being active. He's putting the ball on the floor and driving, and it's resulting in quality shots in the paint and getting to the free throw line. He's got 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting. MIN 57, IND 44.
Halftime: The Timberwolves are leading 46-36 at the half. The Wolves are led in scoring by Derrick Williams' nine points. Playing at the 4, he's 4-of-6 from the floor and is 1-of-3 from 3-point range. His flashiest play was the alley-oop, one-handed dunk from Shved, but he also had a nice give-and-go with Shved for another one of his baskets. Chase Budinger and JJ Barea, each of whom have seven points and have hit once from 3-point range. Roy is currently 2-of-5 with five points, and he's already been on the floor for more than 14 minutes. Love is struggling from the floor, shooting 2-of-9 in the game and is 0-of-2 from 3-point range. On the Pacers' side, Paul George is leading the way with 12 points. Both teams struggling offensively at times, but the Wolves head into halftime shooting 43 percent. MIN 46, IND 36.
Q2 - 2:18: With 2:18 left in the second, the Wolves have a 39-31 lead. A couple nice defensive stops by Kirilenko as he has two steals and also just drew an offensive foul on Paul George. The Wolves have seven steals in the game so far. Offensively, both teams are hovering in the high-30s. Minnesota is shooting 38 percent and Indiana is shooting 36 percent. MIN 39, IND 31.
Q2 - 6:05: Timberwolves leading 36-26 heading into the latest timeout. In the last few minutes we've seen a couple facets of Stiemsma game that the Wolves hope to see more of. He connected from the elbow to extend Minnesota's lead, then on the other end he had a monster block on Jeff Pendergraph. MIN 38, IND 26.
Q2 - 8:33: As we head into the timeout, Budinger just hit a corner 3-pointer and was fouled during the shot. Could be seeing a lot of that this year from Budinger, who could be seeing a lot of open shots from the perimeter. He's 2-of-4 so far tonight for 5 points. Meanwhile, at the 9:29 mark Shved connected on an alley-oop pass to D-Will who threw down a one-handed dunk. By far the highlight of the night so far. D-Will also hit a 3-pointer earlier in the 2nd quarter and has 5 points on the night. After free throw: MIN 31, IND 21
End Q1: At the end of the first quarter, the Wolves are up 22-19. The team is shooting 8-of-24 from the field and is led in scoring by Kevin Love's 6 points. Brandon Roy has three points so far and has four rebounds in 8:51 on the floor. We've gotten our first look at Alexey Shved, Chase Budinger and Greg Stiemsma so far, and D-Will has also gotten about two minutes of action. As the second quarter begins we have Conroy, Shved, Budinger, Williams and Stiemsma on the floor.
Q1 - 6:00: Nikola Pekovic just threw down a two-handed slam that gave Wolves an 11-5 lead. Heading into the timeout, the Wolves have an 11-8 lead and the ball. So far Brandon Roy has his first two points as a Wolves player, coming on a lay-up with 7:50 left in the quarter. He also has three rebounds. K-Love has four points (2-for-2 FTs). Kirilenko has three reobunds and is showing nice court vision with a few of his passes. Coming out of the timeout, all five starters are staying on the floor.
Tipoff: And we're under way here in Fargo, and Andrei Kirilenko found Kevin Love cutting through the lane for the game's first points. Wolves take a 2-0 lead early on. Will keep you posted periodically through each quarter. For up to the second updates follow @MNTimberwolves, @Twolves_PR or @MarkRemme on Twitter.
Pregame -7:00 PM: Starters announced for tonight's game. Timberwolves will start: PG-Barea, SG-Roy, SF-Kirilenko, PF-Love, C-Pekovic. For the Pacers, they're starting PG-Augustin, SG-George, SF-Green, PF-Hansbrough, C-Hibbert. Tipoff just 5 minutes away.
Pregame - 6:25 PM: Welcome to Timberwolves.com's live blog coverage of the Wolves' preseason opener against the Indiana Pacers live from the Fargodome in Fargo, N.D. Tipoff is about 35 minutes away. The Wolves enter tonight's game with high expectations for this year's club, but tonight the focus is simply working on parts of their game that haven't been fully tested by a different NBA opponent. One member of the local media asked coach Rick Adelman if this Wolves squad is a playoff team. Adelman responded, "It's the first preseason game" and that it's too early to make bold predictions. What Adelman's staff is looking for tonight is defensive progress and seeing how the team's chemistry works together.
Adelman said in pregame that he expects Alexey Shved to play mostly shooting guard tonight. With Luke Ridnour (back spasms) and Malcolm Lee (knee) out, Adelman said Will Conroy will be getting time as JJ Barea's backup at point guard. Adelman said he didn't want to overwhelm Shved with point guard responsibilities in his first NBA action, but he might see some time there as well.
Adelman said the starters could play for three quarters. We'll see how the game breaks down as we go. Tipoff coming at the top of the hour.