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Pacers, Timberwolves tussle at Target Center

Dec 21, 2014 - 2:26 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Minnesota Timberwolves will try to halt a four-game losing streak Sunday night when the Indiana Pacers pay a visit to the Target Center.

The T-wolves haven't won since Dec. 10 at home against the Portland Trail Blazers. Overall, Minnesota is just 1-9 in the month of December and made a trade on Friday.

The Timberwolves sent wing player Corey Brewer to the Houston Rockets and Ronny Turiaf went to Philadelphia as part of the deal. Minnesota received Troy Daniels from the Rockets in the trade.

On Friday, Minny fell in Boston to the Celtics, 114-98. The Celtics also made a trade, albeit a much bigger one. Boston shipped Rajon Rondo to the Dallas Mavericks, but didn't miss him on Friday.

Shabazz Muhammad led all scorers with 26 points in the loss. Chase Budinger added 19 off the bench, while Thaddeus Young rounded out the double-figure scorers for Minnesota with 13.

The T-wolves shot 50 percent from long range, but only 45 percent from the field.

"We left a lot of points right on the rim," said Wolves coach Flip Saunders.

The Pacers have lost the first two stops on this road trip, which ends Sunday. Indiana fell to the Los Angeles Clippers by two on Wednesday, then fell to the Denver Nuggets, 76-73, on Saturday.

The 76 points allowed was the second-best defensive output of the season for the Pacers, but their 73 points scored were a season-low by eight points.

David West led the Pacers with 19 points to go with 10 rebounds and C.J. Miles netted 16 points off the bench in the loss. Solomon Hill chipped in 11 for Indiana, which has dropped 10 of its last 11 games.

Donald Sloan pulled down a Miles miss in the closing seconds and nailed a trey to make it a one-point game with 1.2 seconds left. Arron Afflalo proceeded to knock down a pair of free throws with under a second on the clock to push the advantage to three. Miles was again off the mark from beyond the arc as the buzzer sounded and the Nuggets won their sixth straight over the Pacers at home.

"We just didn't play well enough to win. We have to play better," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. "(It) was a tough shooting night, but we gotta keep grinding."

The Pacers shot 30.7 percent from the floor and 30.4 percent from long range.

The Pacers have won four of the last six meetings, but the Timberwolves have won four of the last five as the host in this series.