preseason

Wheat Hotchkiss

Fans and scribes alike got their first glimpse of the 2014-15 Indiana Pacers in Tuesday night's preseason opener at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The initial returns were promising, as the Blue-and-Gold rolled past the Minnesota Timberwolves, 103-90.

Coming into this season, much was made about who the Pacers didn't have after starting shooting guard Lance Stephenson bolted for Charlotte and All-Star forward Paul George broke his leg while playing for Team USA. But on Tuesday night, the Pacers demonstrated that they still have plenty of talent on their roster.

Head coach Frank Vogel had spoken glowingly about the work starting point guard George Hill put in over the offseason. It certainly showed on Tuesday.

Hill, whose scoring average dropped from 14.2 points per game in 2012-13 to 10.3 last season as Stephenson and George took on larger roles offensively, was noticeably assertive and aggressive against the Timberwolves. He tallied a team-high 17 points, six rebounds, and seven assists in 20:25.

"I always was a scorer, my whole life," Hill said. "It's not the fact that I can't score, (the important thing is) just trying to find ways to be more aggressive and not be too passive sitting back letting everyone else do the work."

Hill scored 11 points and dished out four assists in just over six minutes of action in the second half. He was the only starter to play into the third quarter.

"I wanted George to get out there and sort of play some minutes as the primary option," Vogel said after the win. "...We're going to need more scoring from him this year, so I just used that first burst in the second half to give him more of an opportunity."

Indiana opened the preseason with summer signings Rodney Stuckey and C.J. Miles starting on the wing alongside Hill. Incumbents David West and Roy Hibbert manned the post. Both of the Pacers' new starters contributed in the early going.

Miles hit a corner 3-pointer for the team's first points and tallied seven points and three rebounds in the first quarter. Two possessions after Miles' first basket, Stuckey scored on a reverse layup off a give-and-go with center Roy Hibbert. The eighth-year shooting guard had a team-high nine points in the first half on 4-for-7 shooting, though he also tallied three turnovers.

Minnesota led by five points in the early going, but the Pacers settled down after the first couple minutes and closed the first quarter with a 15-4 run to take a 30-20 lead. The Timberwolves slowly cut into the lead in the second period, but Indiana remained in front and Donald Sloan sank a running 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to push Indiana's lead back to four.

With Hill's strong play as the catalyst, the Pacers quickly pushed their lead back to double digits early in the second half. They led by as many as 21 points in the fourth quarter and cruised to a comfortable victory.

Indiana now has two days off before returning to the court on Friday night when they host Victor Oladipo and the Orlando Magic at The Fieldhouse at 7:00 p.m. ET.

"We're just trying to figure it out," West said. "Coach is going to keep tinkering with lineups and trying to get everybody in the best position to maximize who they are individually."

The Pacers shot 48.2 percent from the field while limiting the Timberwolves to 37.2 percent, but Minnesota outscored the Pacers in second chance points (17-9) and on the fastbreak (19-10).

Pacers center Roy Hibbert was solid in the paint, tallying eight points and five rebounds in 15:35.

Rookie forward Shayne Whittington was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field and tallied 11 points in 20:41 off the bench, his first game action since breaking his leg doing predraft workouts in May.

Forward Lavoy Allen had 10 points (on 5-of-9 shooting) and seven rebounds in 18:09.

Timberwolves guard Andrew Wiggins, the #1 overall pick in June's NBA Draft acquired by Minnesota in the trade that sent Kevin Love to Cleveland, led all scorers with 18 points in 32:20. Wiggins was 4-for-11 from the field, but got to the free throw line 10 times and made eight.

Second-year center Gorgui Dieng recorded a double-double for the T-Wolves, collecting 16 points and 10 rebounds.

"George is a very versatile guy. We’re going to need him to be aggressive and assertive.  At times he’s going to have to take tough guarded shots this year, whatever is necessary." -West on George Hill

"He's the head of the state. He's going to be able to lead us playing that way. I mean, he almost had a triple-double in 20 minutes." -Miles on George Hill

"He has a great feel for the game; he picks things up pretty well. He’s a rookie, but we’re high on what he can be. For us to get him as an undrafted guy is a good pickup.” -Vogel on Whittington

"We had a really good training camp. Our togetherness is better than any team I’ve been on. Seeing that chemistry and everyone playing well tonight, kind of shows you how training camp went and how much we’ve meshed." -Whittington

"I think he showed great composure.  As I said prior the game, you could see him picking up things, being more aggressive and playing very advanced defensively.  He didn’t play like a rookie playing his first game, so I thought he was extremely impressive and I liked what I saw out of him and how he responded to different types of situations." -Minnesota head coach Flip Saunders on Wiggins' preseason debut

"We got off to a good start, moved the ball, hit some shots.  Then we got some stops on the other end.  We’ve got to get better and put it together for a whole game.  There’s still some work to do." -Timberwolves forward Thaddeus Young

preseason

Game Rewind: Pacers 103, Timberwolves 90 (Preseason)