Jimmy Butler scored 20 points and Karl-Anthony Towns put up his first double-double of the season with 17 points and 14 rebounds as the Minnesota Timberwolves pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat the Indiana Pacers 101-91 in Minneapolis.
Taj Gibson added 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting, and point guard Jeff Teague recorded 10 assists on a night when Andrew Wiggins played only eight minutes in the first quarter before leaving with what the team later said was a right quadriceps contusion.
Victor Oladipo and Bojan Bogdanovic each scored 20 points to lead Indiana, although Oladipo scored only five points after halftime.
Bogdanovic went 8-for-12 from the field and 4-of-5 in 3-pointers on a night when the Pacers overall made only 8-of-26 from long distance. Indiana came into the game leading the NBA in 3-point shooting at 47.1 percent.
Myles Turner added 16 points for the Pacers.
The Timberwolves trailed 73-72 at the end of the third quarter, but they went on a 12-0 run to start the fourth, with Derrick Rose scoring four points, Tyus Jones hitting a 3-pointer, Gorgui Dieng scoring a layup and Anthony Tolliver drilling a 25-foot 3-pointer to give Minnesota an 84-73 lead with 9:12 to play.
The Pacers came no closer than eight points the rest of the way.
Josh Okogie finished with 12 points for the Timberwolves, and Rose added 11 points and five assists.
Minnesota shot 42.4 percent from the floor, compared to 39.6 percent for Indiana.
The Timberwolves entered the game fifth-best in the league in 3-point shooting at 42.3 percent, but they also struggled, hitting only 7-of-33 for 21.2 percent on the night.
Wiggins had two points and one assist before leaving with the injury. Through the season's first three games, Wiggins was averaging 20.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 33.7 minutes.
--Field Level Media
Indiana | Minnesota | |
Bojan Bogdanovic 20 | Scoring | Jimmy Butler 20 |
Darren Collison 6 | Assists | Jeff Teague 10 |
Victor Oladipo 7 | Rebounds | Karl-Anthony Towns 15 |
Darren Collison 3 | Free Throws Made | Jimmy Butler 8 |
Darren Collison 2 | Steals | Tyus Jones 3 |
Kyle O'Quinn 2 | Blocks | Taj Gibson 3 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Indiana | 91 | 39.1 | 8-26 | 11-16 | 18 | 45 | 6 | 6 | 15 |
Minnesota | 101 | 42.4 | 7-33 | 22-24 | 24 | 47 | 12 | 9 | 15 |