Indiana saw their playoff chances suffer a bit after a close loss puts them at 37-37 overall on the season. They now sit as a seventh seed in the Eastern Conference and are just one game ahead of the Miami Heat. Neither team had a double-digit lead in the close affair, but Minnesota outscored their opponent 28-24 in the fourth quarter gave them the one-point victory. The Timberwolves are well out of any playoff race as they're 29-44 overall on the season and sit at 12th in the Western Conference.
No answer for Timberwolves' Karl-Anthony Towns
Minnesota had a worse shooting percentage in the game than their opponent, but that didn't matter thanks to an impressive performance by center Karl-Anthony Towns (24.6 ppg, 12.1 rpg).
He finished with a team-high 37 points and 12 boards, hitting 12-of-22 field goal attempts and making all 10 free throws. He's now recorded seven double-doubles in the last nine games, and his scoring output was only bested by a 39 point output against Washington in this stretch.
Point guard Ricky Rubio (10.5 ppg, 8.9 apg) also spent a lot of time at the foul line. He made all 13 free throw attempts and finished with 21 points and 10 assists. As a team, the Timberwolves made 32-of-37 free throw attempts.
Pacers can't win despite paint domination
While Indiana may not have been able to stop their opponent's center, they also dominated inside the paint. In fact, they had a 62-30 advantage in the area and frequented the foul line nearly as much, hitting 29-of-35 attempts.
Small forward Paul George (22.8 ppg, 6.4 rpg) equaled Towns' 37 points on the night, nearly duplicating their stat line with 12-of-21 field goals made and hitting all nine free throw attempts.
The Pacers' backcourt starters, Jeff Teague (15.4 ppg, 7.8 apg) and Monta Ellis, (9 ppg) combined for 39 total points despite going 0-for-7 from 3-point range.
Teague finished with a positive passing ratio of 10 assists to just 1 turnover and hit 8-of-9 free throw attempts.
The Timberwolves will host the Los Angeles Lakers next on Thursday night. The Pacers are back in action Wednesday night at Memphis.