MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Julius Randle had 20 of his 31 points in the first half and Rudy Gobert added 14 points and 19 rebounds, helping the Minnesota Timberwolves hold on after an early exit by star Anthony Edwards to beat the depleted Indiana Pacers 114-110 on Sunday night.
Edwards was pulled with hamstring tightness, but Donte DiVincenzo (17 points) held together the backcourt and Naz Reid (16 points, 10 rebounds) pitched in, too.
After Pascal Siakam hit 33 points for the Pacers on his 3-pointer with 42 seconds left to cut their deficit to 110-108, Jaden McDaniels answered with a finger-roll to push the lead to four with 20 seconds remaining.
Aaron Nesmith added 18 points for the Pacers, who are resigned to playing the season without Tyrese Haliburton, and lost current leading scorer Bennedict Mathurin to a sprained toe the previous night in Memphis.
Andrew Nembhard, the primary point guard while Haliburton recovers from the torn Achilles tendon that painfully ended his NBA Finals, was out for the second straight game with a shoulder strain among seven players unavailable.
That left the Pacers (0-3), who lost their opener in double overtime to defending champion Oklahoma City, with a starting lineup including journeyman Jay Huff, little-used big man Isaiah Jackson, and young guard Ben Sheppard.
The home opener hype in Minnesota, with the rollout of stage-style lighting on the court and the return of the all-black uniforms with pine-tree trim worn during the Kevin Garnett era, abated when Edwards went missing 3:08 into the game.
But as he watched from the bench in a gray hoodie and black shades, the Wolves (2-1) took control by outscoring the Pacers 28-17 in the third quarter and drawing 11 fouls while being whistled for only three that period.
Indiana plays at Dallas on Wednesday. Minnesota hosts Denver on Monday.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
Murder for Two Read moreMurder For Two
Kicks or Treats: Dance for Free Week at CY Danceworks! Read moreKicks or Treats Dance for Free Week at CY Danceworks
cube_corner said:
+1
LittleFoot said:
LittleFoot said:
In short - learning difficult and refined things makes you a better person.
LittleFoot said:
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.