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Karl-Anthony Towns Erupts for 42 Points, 17 Rebounds as T-Wolves Fall to Pacers

Joseph Zucker

The Indiana Pacers defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 122-115 on Thursday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

With the win, the Pacers improve to 9-7 since Victor Oladipo suffered a season-ending knee injury Jan. 23.

Bojan Bogdanovic scored a team-high 37 points for Indiana while adding seven rebounds and four assists. Wesley Matthews, who has helped fill the void left by Oladipo in the backcourt, scored 12 points on 3-of-9 shooting.

Karl-Anthony Towns finished with a season-high 42 points and 17 rebounds, while Andrew Wiggins scored 11 points in the loss.

      

Bojan Bogdanovic Offering Pacers a Silver Lining Post-Oladipo Injury

Losing Oladipo hurt Indiana's chances of reaching the NBA Finals, a quest that would've been difficult enough if he had been healthy.

The Pacers still have plenty to play for, though, as evidenced by the fact they remain third in the Eastern Conference. At the very least, an appearance in the second round of the playoffs is attainable, which wouldn't be bad given the circumstances.

Oladipo's injury has also forced Bogdanovic to assume a larger role for Indiana, and he's delivering in a big way.

Bogdanovic took advantage of his matchup Thursday night to toast Wiggins on defense—both with his drives to the basket and his movement off the ball. He also shot 4-of-7 from beyond the arc.

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The general problem for the Pacers is that they can't exactly attract marquee players to come to Indiana. The team has $48.8 million in practical salary-cap space, per Spotrac, but will struggle to sign a max-level free agent. Plus, team president Kevin Pritchard will want to use some of that to re-sign Bogdanovic, who's an unrestricted free agent.

That makes it really hard for the Pacers to go from being very good to a true title contender.

Bogdanovic can help raise Indiana's ceiling slightly, though, if his last month represents the kind of breakthrough that carries into next season.

      

Dominant KAT Gives Timberwolves Slim Hope of Upsetting Long Playoff Odds

At 29-33, the Timberwolves are now 4.5 games back of the eighth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers in the Western Conference. Prior to the defeat, they only had a 2.8 percent chance of reaching the postseason, according to ESPN.com's NBA BPI Playoff Odds.

When Towns is playing like this, however, Minnesota can't be written off entirely as a playoff threat. He did a little bit of everything on offense Thursday. He shot 15-of-29 from the field, 3-of-8 from beyond the arc and 9-of-13 from the charity stripe.

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Towns was clearly not himself to start the year as the Timberwolves dealt with the drama surrounding Jimmy Butler's trade request. Because of Towns' slow start, some fans have likely missed how his performance has steadily improved.

Minnesota plays the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday, which will be a difficult game. But the Timberwolves also play the Washington Wizards twice, the Detroit Pistons and the New York Knicks over the next 10 days.

That stretch offers them an opportunity to potentially make up some ground on the Clippers.

Most likely, Minnesota will miss the playoffs for the 14th time in 15 seasons. The door isn't completely closed, which leaves Towns the chance to put the team on his back and achieve the improbable.

      

What's Next?

The Pacers host the Orlando Magic on Saturday, with the two teams having split their previous two meetings. The Timberwolves close out their three-game road trip with a matchup Sunday against the Washington Wizards.

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