MINNEAPOLIS — Julius Randle scored 31 points and six assists and the Timberwolves survived the first-quarter loss of Anthony Edwards to beat the severely short-handed Pacers 114-110 on Sunday night at the Target Center.

The Pacers fell to 0-3. The Timberwolves improved to 2-1.

Guard Donte DiVincenzo added 17 points for the Timberwolves and Naz Reid scored 16 off the bench. Pacers All-Star forward Pascal Siakam scored 33 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out eight assists. Forward Aaron Nesmith scored 18 points, point guard RayJ Dennis had 12 points and five assists and center Tony Bradley had 12 points.

Here are three observations.

Julius Randle was a little too much

The Pacers entered Sunday’s game as the far more short-handed team. The Pacers had seven players including two opening night starters out with the seven also including done-for-the-season All-Star Tyrese Haliburton. However, Timberwolves All-NBA guard Anthony Edwards left the game in the first quarter with hamstring tightness and Minnesota found itself having to scramble as well.

Both teams leaned on their remaining All-Stars and Minnesota’s Julius Randle was dominant inside and out. The two-time All-NBA pick scored his 31 points on 11 of 18 shooting and 1 of 4 3-point shooting. He scored four of his 2-point buckets at the rim but also hit six mid-range jumpers which made him a very difficult guard in isolation. He also made 8 of 10 free throws and dished out six assists to take advantage of his gravity. The Pacers played mostly strong defense throughout the evening, holding Minnesota to 46.4% shooting, but Randle was the one player they couldn’t solve.

Pascal Siakam showed leadership

For all the Pacers were missing with seven players ruled out before the game and Obi Toppin added to the list in the third quarter, they still had a three-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA selection active. Pascal Siakam has had to carry teams before and he knew he had to do it again Sunday with Bennedict Mathurin and Andrew Nembhard out in addition to T.J. McConnell and Tyrese Haliburton, who is out for the season.

At 6-8 with a 7-3 wingspan and handles of a much smaller man, Siakam gave the Pacers a lot of what they needed in one package and he was aggressive from the jump in attacking the Timberwolves of the dribble and either getting to the rim or knocking down contested shots. He was a willing ball-handler on a team that has had its point guard depth decimated and he was a force on the glass as well.

Siakam scored 33 points on 11 of 24 shooting including 3 of 6 from 3-point range. He also grabbed 10 rebounds, dished out eight assists and recorded three steals. Though he was only able to slow down Randle so much he at least provided some resistance to make his life a little harder.

The Pacers seemed more organized but still had too many mistakes.

The Pacers’ offensive product looked a little sharper in the second game that they had to lean on third-year wing Ben Sheppard and second-year two-way contract player RayJ Dennis as their lead guards. Both looked a little sharper with the basketball and the Pacers seemed more cohesive around them. Sheppard scored 6 poitns on 2 of 9 shooting and had 2 assists. Dennis had 12 points and 5 assists.

That being said, there were still enough miscues to be deadly and not enough shot-making to make up for it. The Pacers turned the ball over 17 times and the Timberwolves scored 26 points off those turnovers. The Pacers shot 42.9% from the floor and 14 of 40 from 3-point range (303%) and finished with 1.06 points per possession. They had a hard time getting easy baskets, scoring 48 points in the paint on 24 of 43 shooting in the lane. They scored just 17 points in the third quarter on 5 of 22 shooting. They still stayed within reasonable striking distance until the fourth quarter but couldn’t get back to even.

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