Game Preview #3 – Timberwolves vs. Pacers

Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Indiana Pacers
Date: October 26th, 2025
Time: 6:00 PM CDT
Location: Target Center
Television Coverage: FanDuel Sports Network – North
Radio Coverage: Wolves App, iHeart Radio

Perhaps Jeff Bezos could’ve saved himself a few hundred million dollars by buying the WWE streaming rights instead of the NBA. Because whatever we watched Friday night in L.A. was straight out of Vince McMahon’s booking notebook. Timberwolves–Lakers on Amazon Prime Video’s debut night, Luka flinging himself around like Shawn Michaels selling a Hulk Hogan punch in 2005, whistles coming in hotter than a Roman Reigns spear, and the refs treating Anthony Edwards like a 10-day contract guy in Summer League scrimmage.

Nineteen free throws for Luka Doncic. Nineteen.
Anthony Edwards: zero respect and a handshake.

The Wolves absolutely could’ve been better, no argument there. But let’s not pretend the league didn’t send out the A-Team of predetermined narrative officiating to make sure their shiny new Amazon property didn’t start 0–2. The fix was in. End of discussion.

But here’s the thing: that game is over. It’s gone. Flush it. Straight down the Beverly Hills toilet. Because the next 48 minutes are far more dangerous than anything that happened in Crypto.com Arena.

Enter the defending Eastern Conference champion Indiana Pacers. Undermanned, but not unserious. Haliburton’s out for the season, and it does not matter. This is a Rick Carlisle team. These dudes will run 48 minutes straight of organized violence.

Home opener. Target Center. The team is 1–1 and off to a sloppy, disjointed, borderline unserious start to the season. And if that wasn’t enough, a seething Nikola Jokic is looking to snatch the soul out of Target Center tomorrow night. The Timberwolves’ margin is one game wide. This one.

1. The Wolves MUST match the Pacers’ intensity from opening tip
Indiana does not take possessions off. They hunt laziness. They smell coasting. And Minnesota has coasted for 6 of their 8 quarters this season. If they think they can slow-walk into this one and rev the engine later, they will be down 15 in the second to Obi Toppin, again. Wolves nation simply does not need that type of trauma.

2. The guard play has to be functional. Not heroic. Not flashy. Just functional.
The Wolves are playing like a team that doesn’t have a reliable point guard, because they don’t. Mike is aging backward into the Senior Discount Era, Donte is not a point, and Dillingham hidden at the end of the bench like he’s in witness protection. Bones? He can provide a spark at times, but clearly isn’t the night-in, night-out answer.

Indiana traps you on purpose. If Minnesota coughts up 18+ turnovers, the game is over before the crowd hits the concession stands.

3. The bench has to actually show up tonight
Wednesday: they survived. Friday: they died.
Naz? Five points. TSJ? Goose egg. Conley? Four fouls in under 10 minutes. Bones & Jalen Clark gave a pulse, but that type of production is simply not enough. Indy goes deep. Minnesota can too, but tonight they absolutely have to.

4. Anthony Edwards has to snatch the spotlight
Ant was no slouch on Friday night with 31 on the road, but Luka owned the moment because the league propped him up like a Disney prince. Tonight, it’s the home opener in Ant’s house. I don’t care if he has to drop 45 with zero free throws and no bench help, Edwards has to own this game. This is his castle, and tonight, he steps into his throne.

This is not “just Game 3.” It’s a referendum on how serious this team actually is.

The home opener. Against the reigning East champs. Before Denver. Before Jokic.

You don’t just want to win this game — you need to stomp it into the earth.

Target Center is ready. The question is: are the Wolves?