Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Edwards help T-Wolves throttle Pacers

MINNEAPOLIS -- With Tyrese Haliburton on the shelf, the Pacers lost 127-109 to the Timberwolves at the Target Center to finish out a four-game road trip with three straight defeats.

The Pacers fell to 13-11. It's the first time this season they've lost three straight games. The Timberwolves improved to 19-5, staying in first place in the Western Conference and matching the Celtics for the best record in the NBA.

Here are four observations.

Anthony Edwards starts quiet, but goes off

The Pacers managed to hold one of the most explosive young scorers in the NBA without a point in the first quarter. With wings Bruce Brown and Aaron Nesmith drawing the primary assignment, they kept Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards from getting separation, contested his shots and held him to zero points on 0 of 4 shooting in the first period, which helped the Pacers hold Minnesota to 23 points as a team in the period.

But Edwards had no interest in allowing that to continue, and in the second quarter he changed the dynamic dramatically. The 22-year-old All-Star and Team USA's leading scorer in this year's FIBA World Cup scored 18 points on 6 of 7 shooting in the second quarter, knocking down all four of his 3-point attempts.

"The 3s he hit in the first half were all heavily contested," rookie guard Ben Sheppard said. "I feel like there's nothing you can do about that. Great players are going to make great shots."

From that point forward, nothing the Pacers tried to do to stop him mattered. He finished with 37 points on 14 of 23 shooting, knocking down seven 3-pointers on 10 attempts.

"Great players are going to make tough shots," Pacers guard Bruce Brown said. "Sometimes you've just gotta live with that. But he hit seven. If he does that, that's tough. Ant is one of the toughest guards in the league, especially if he's hitting jumpers. ... You just have to tip your cap."

Pacers have no answer for Karl-Anthony Towns

While they slowed down Edwards for a period, the Pacers didn't have an answer for Karl-Anthony Towns at any point. Big bodied power forwards with inside-outside skill tend to be a problem for the Pacers because while they do have options at center, they are still undersized at the four. So there was no good matchup for the 7-foot, 248-pound Towns.

Forwards Obi Toppin, Aaron Nesmith and Jarace Walker all tried and others picked up the two-time All-NBA forward in switches, but the Pacers ultimately had no way to stop him whether he was shooting 3s or going to the rim. Towns finished with 40 points on 15 of 25 shooting with two 3-pointers on three attempts. Fouling didn't help either as he made all eight of his free throws. He added 12 rebounds and four assists in a simply overwhelming performance.

Towns took just one first-half 3 and missed it, but was able to bully his way to the rim whenever he wanted to. He got both of his 3s to fall in the second half, but 12 of his 15 field goals game in the paint because the Pacers simply couldn't keep him out of it.

"I'm taking what the defense gives me," Towns said. "I felt like I could impose my will inside and do some damage. Baskets kept falling, and if it ain't broke don't fix it."

With Haliburton, Nembhard out, T.J. McConnell, Bruce Brown set tone

Tyrese Haliburton's knee contusion led to the Pacers being down not just one but two point guards, as Andrew Nembhard bruised his knee last week in the loss to Milwaukee in Vegas.

Fortunately for the Pacers they have a third point guard in T.J. McConnell who has more than earned their trust, and another guard in Bruce Brown who got plenty of backup point guard work on a championship team last year in the Denver Nuggets.

Neither of them have Haliburton's outside shooting ability, overall scoring capacity or flash as a passer, but they're battle-tested veterans who can distribute and get to the rim on offense, bring tenacity on the defensive end and -- particularly in McConnell's case -- hustle all over the floor.

So with the Pacers' usual standard-bearers off the floor, they melded themselves to McConnell and Brown's identity. In the first half at least, they made the game competitive, though it changed drastically in the third quarter.

The ball moved constantly with the offensive priority being to find the open man rather than to feed any individual player. The defensive intensity was much better than usual, especially in the first quarter when they held the T-Wolves to 9 of 22 shooting from the floor and 0.86 points per possession. The Timberwolves won the quarter 23-20, but it showed in the Pacers a capacity to hang in a rock fight of a game with the best defensive team in the NBA.

In the second quarter the Timberwolves got rolling offensively, but McConnell and Brown helped the Pacers match that, directing an offense that made 14 of 19 shots in the second period including all three of its 3s and posted 1.58 points per possession.

Eventually, the Pacers couldn't match the firepower of Edwards and Towns, and the Timberwolves blew the roof off in the third quarter when they outscored the Pacers 38-23. But Indiana got as much as they could out of the men running the point. McConnell finished with 10 points on 5 of 12 shooting, six assists, four rebounds and two steals. Brown scored 17 points on 8 of 14 shooting. He was 1 of 3 from 3-point range, but that 3-pointer was notable because he hadn't hit a three in any of his last four games, going a combined 0 of 10.

"T.J. and Bruce both did a solid job filling in at the starting at backup point positions," Carlisle said. "It was good for Bruce in particular. It was a different way for him to get into the flow of the game. Tonight was good for him for those reasons. T.J., you're going to get a consistent effort every night."

Brown said getting back at the point was helpful because he's realizing he needs to bring the ball up a little more frequently when Haliburton is playing. More and more teams are double teaming Haliburton when he brings the ball up the floor so one way to free him up is to have Brown take the 1 on some possessions and let Haliburton run around off the ball as the 2.

"I was just aggressive," Brown said. "I think I gotta play the same way when Ty is back and take some pressure off him. I was just getting downhill, getting to my spots and it felt good to see a 3 go in because I was struggling."

McConnell and Brown had to make a number of moving parts fit together and some lineups work that hadn't been used before. They had rookies on the floor getting extended minutes and all kinds of new combinations.

Despite that, the Pacers still shot 50% from the field and posted 25 assists on 45 baskets with the NBA's leader in assists out of the game. The actually posted 70 points in the paint to the Timberwolves' 50 and won the rebounding battle 40-36 with 17 second-chance points to the Timberwolves' eight and 16 second-chance points to Minnesota's two. They ultimately lost because they couldn't stop two All-Stars and because they made just 6 of 21 3-pointers, but there were bright spots on a short-handed evening.

"I'm not a big moral victory guy, but it's been a long trip and the way we started the game certainly was better than the way we finished it,' McConnell said. "It was good to see the fight obviously. But we just kind of ran out of gas."

Jarace Walker shows good signs in most extensive work

Pacers coach Rick Carlisle saw the second night of a back-to-back with three rotation players out as a reason to get work for the players who have been stuck on the end of the bench, particularly his rookie first round picks.

Jarace Walker, the No. 8 overall pick, got his most extensive work of the season, playing 24 minutes after checking in early in the second quarter. He showed flashes of why he was taken so high.

He didn't have any more of an answer for Karl-Anthony Towns than anyone else, but he did fight in the process, came up with two steals. He also showed sharp passing skill and an improving jumper. He hit a 3-pointer and another long jumper just inside the line to finish with five points. He also grabbed two rebounds and dished out three assists.

"I'd say everyone was impressed with his defensive presence and his vision," Sheppard said. "He made a couple of passes today where you're just like, 'Wow.' I know Jarace has that in his game."

Beyond Walker, Sheppard also scored eight points and had three rebounds and two steals. Rookie center Oscar Tshiebwe had eight points on 3 of 6 shooting in garbage time and grabbed four rebounds. Seldom-used forward Jordan Nwora added seven points on 3 of 4 shooting and also had three assists.

Pacers stats vs. Timberwolves

Minnesota 127, Indiana 109

INDIANA (109): Hield 0-4 0-0 0, Toppin 3-4 0-0 7, Turner 2-7 7-8 12, B.Brown 8-14 0-0 17, McConnell 5-12 0-0 10, Jackson 6-6 0-0 12, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Nwora 3-4 1-1 7, Tshiebwe 3-6 2-2 8, Walker 2-3 0-0 5, Mathurin 3-11 0-0 6, Nesmith 7-14 1-1 17, Sheppard 3-5 2-4 8. Totals 45-90 13-16 109.

MINNESOTA (127): McDaniels 2-4 0-0 5, Towns 15-25 8-8 40, Gobert 2-3 1-4 5, Conley 2-5 0-0 5, Edwards 14-23 2-2 37, Anderson 2-4 0-0 4, Brown Jr. 4-6 0-0 11, Reid 6-8 2-2 17, Alexander-Walker 1-6 0-0 3, McLaughlin 0-0 0-0 0, Milton 0-2 0-0 0, Moore Jr. 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 48-86 13-16 127.

IND 20 35 23 31 — 109

MIN 23 34 38 32 — 127

3-Point Goals—Indiana 6-21 (Nesmith 2-4, Toppin 1-2, Turner 1-2, Walker 1-2, B.Brown 1-3, Mathurin 0-1, McConnell 0-1, Nwora 0-1, Sheppard 0-2, Hield 0-3), Minnesota 18-30 (Edwards 7-10, Brown Jr. 3-5, Reid 3-5, Towns 2-3, McDaniels 1-1, Alexander-Walker 1-2, Conley 1-3, Milton 0-1). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Indiana 40 (B.Brown, Nesmith, Turner 5), Minnesota 36 (Towns 12). Assists_Indiana 25 (McConnell 6), Minnesota 33 (Anderson 10). Total Fouls_Indiana 15, Minnesota 16. A_18,024 (19,356)

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers vs. T-Wolves: Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Edwards dominate