The Wolves dropped the second game of a road back-to-back in Indiana on Thursday night despite an absolutely otherworldly effort from Karl-Anthony Towns, who had a season-high 42 points.
Towns was phenomenal, adding 17 rebounds and four assists to his impressive point total, but he didn’t get much help—no other Minnesota player finished with more than 15 points and the Wolves suffered a 122-115 loss.
The Wolves struggled from the line yet again, hitting just 23 of 34 attempts. The Wolves also allowed the Pacers to shoot 59.3 percent from three-point range. That was the difference in the game.
While the Wolves did not have any high-scoring players other than Towns, it would be unfair to say that no one else played well. Minnesota’s bench continues to produce—they tallied 39 points tonight led by 13 from Anthony Tolliver and 12 from Taj Gibson.
Minnesota outrebounded the Pacers 57-to-34 and led by as many as 12 in the second quarter, but a furious rally by Indiana in the closing minutes of the second and opening possessions of the third quarter put the Pacers in the driver’s seat.
It’s difficult to sugarcoat this game—the loss hurts. While it’s heartening that the Wolves managed to be so competitive in a game with such a good team, moral victories feel rather thin in games like this. After dropping a heartbreaker in Atlanta on Wednesday, the Wolves find themselves in a similar position Thursday night. While the team absolutely has the right to be frustrated and disappointed in their performance, they also need to rebound immediately. They have an opportunity to do so on Sunday in Washington, D.C.
If there is one positive takeaway, it’s the play of Towns. It’s hard to describe how good he was tonight—he’s simply on another level right now. He’s doing everything in his power to help the Wolves win, and it just hasn’t been working out. However, if a few things start clicking, the Wolves are still very capable of putting together a serious run.
The time to do that is right now.