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Pacers, T-Wolves wallowing in injuries

Feb 20, 2009 - 3:21 PM Indiana (22-34) at Minnesota (18-35) 8:00 p.m. EST

MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- The Indiana Pacers will be without their best player for three weeks. The Minnesota Timberwolves can sympathize with the Pacers' plight.

The Pacers begin life without Danny Granger on Friday when they visit the Timberwolves.

Granger left Wednesday's game against the Charlotte Bobcats early in the second quarter with a strained right foot. He underwent an MRI Thursday in Minneapolis that revealed a partially torn tendon that will keep him out between 10 days and three weeks.

The explosive forward, who is coming off his first All-Star Game appearance, had 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting before departing.

Minnesota, meanwhile, has been without its best player for the last three contests after center Al Jefferson tore his right anterior cruciate ligament in a 101-97 loss to the New Orleans Hornets on February 8.

Without Granger, who ranks sixth in the NBA in scoring, averaging 25.3 points this season, Indiana endured a 103-94 setback, its fifth in the last eight games.

Minnesota lost Jefferson at tough time as he had been playing the best basketball of his career.

The centerpiece of the trade that sent Kevin Garnett to the Boston Celtics last season, Jefferson was averaging a team-high 23.1 points and 11.0 rebounds after recording his sixth straight double-double in the loss to the Hornets. He had 25 points and 14 rebounds before suffering the injury.

The Timberwolves lost their next two games after Jefferson's injury, but snapped their slide with a 111-104 victory over the Miami Heat on Wednesday.