Coming off of Friday night’s disappointing, defense-absent loss to the Lakers in Los Angeles, the 1-1 Timberwolves should have — at least on paper — a pretty good shot at picking up a win in their home opener against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday evening.
The Pacers are 0-2, playing on the second leg of a back-to-back, and have been hit extremely hard by injuries early this season. They’ll be without a laundry list of important players for tonight’s game in Minneapolis.
In their season opener against the Thunder on Thursday, the Pacers’ starters were Andrew Nembard, Bennedict Mathurin, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, and Isaiah Jackson. The defending Eastern Conference champions came into this season without superstar point guard Tyrese Haliburton (Achilles) and center Myles Turner, who is now on the Bucks. Mathurin and Siakam combined for 68 points in a double-overtime loss to Oklahoma City.
Nembhard got hurt in that game, so James Wiseman entered the starting lineup on Saturday. And late in a 25-point loss in Memphis, the Pacers lost Mathurin — their leading scorer in both games so far — to an injury.
So, here’s the list of players the Pacers will be without on Sunday in Minneapolis, all of whom are guards:
That’s nearly Indiana’s entire backcourt. The following 11 players are who they’ll have available:
Nesmith, Siakam, Toppin and others can still pose problems for Minnesota. But the Pacers look a lot less dangerous without four key guards (Haliburton, Nembhard, Mathurin, McConnell) and a few depth options as well. It also helps that the Wolves had Saturday to rest and are playing at home, whereas Indiana just played on Saturday.
Anthony Edwards has led the way for Minnesota with 36 points per game over the first two outings. Julius Randle has averaged 22.5, with Jaden McDaniels third at 14 points per night.
The atmosphere at Target Center should be a good one on Sunday. The Wolves will be wearing their Classic Edition black tree-trim uniforms, with a special court to match. They’ll also have new theater-style stage lighting that is designed to add to the viewing experience.
It’s a 6:00 p.m. CT game on FanDuel Sports Network North.
