Pacers strike from long range

INDIANAPOLIS — While it was snowing in Minnesota, it was raining in Indianapolis.

Funny, though. Only the Timberwolves got wet as the Pacers rained down three-pointers.

Two nights earlier against Memphis, the Wolves started slowly but clawed back to beat the Grizzlies at home. But that was a team dive-bombing into the NBA draft lottery.

On Friday, the Wolves played a Pacers team that, despite its losing record, was within sniffing distance of an Eastern Conference playoff spot.

This time this Wolves started slowly again but couldn't overcome Indiana's hot shooting as the Pacers claimed a 124-113 victory.

It was a game in which:

• Indiana shot 59.3 percent from three-point range, finishing with a franchise-record 16 three-pointers. It was also the most against the Wolves this season, and one off the all-time record for a Minnesota opponent.

• The Pacers scored 66 points in the first half -- the most by a Wolves opponent this season. Indiana turned 16 Wolves turnovers (10 in the first half) into 27 points, outrebounded the Wolves 46-36 and scored 17 second-chance points.

But after the game, a surprisingly calm Wolves coach Randy Wittman looked through his reading glasses at the boxscore and couldn't help but focus on that three-point shooting. Danny Granger was 6-for-8 for 32 points. Mike Dunleavy was 6-for-7.

"They got us behind the 8-ball a little bit," Wittman said. "They shot the [heck] out of it from behind the three. Then we had to run 'em off the line and then they beat us off the dribble. We didn't take either one away early, in the first half."

The result was the most points scored against the Wolves in regulation since a 131-102 loss in Phoenix on Jan. 21, 2007.

"They were hot tonight," said Al Jefferson, who was limited by foul trouble to 29 minutes and 11 points. "They were just hot. We had a couple defensive breakdowns, but many of the shots they took were contested."

Jefferson was one of the few Wolves who came out playing tough defense early. He took a charge and had four blocked shots in the first half, but the Pacers still took a 66-49 halftime lead.

Then the Wolves clawed back. With Rashad McCants scoring 21 of his 22 in the second half, the Wolves had two 9-0 runs in the third quarter. The second one ended the quarter and brought the Wolves within 11. That was whittled to eight early in the fourth. The Wolves had the ball and Corey Brewer had a wide-open 16-footer that would have cut it to six.

He missed, and the Pacers were off, again, on a 10-2 run.

"We have to get back, in the start of games, to coming out with more of a sense of urgency defensively," Wittman said. "The Memphis game, at home, was sort of like this one. We clawed back and won that one. And we clawed back into this one. We fought. But 16 out of 27? My math isn't very good, but that's 48 points. [Three-pointers] are kind of what we want teams to settle for. But it came back to haunt us tonight."

It overshadowed what was a pretty productive night for the Wolves, who shot 56.1 percent and made nine of 18 three-pointers.

"Seemed like no matter what we did, they always had an answer offensively," guard Randy Foye said. "We had our moments on offense but just couldn't put together enough stops. They were really hot tonight."

• Wittman got to the Wolves hotel in Indianapolis at 8:15 a.m. Friday after taking a red-eye flight from California -- where he watched his son, Ryan, play in the first round of the NCAA tournament for Cornell -- through Detroit.

• Center Michael Doleac's wife, Shannon, gave birth to a son Wednesday. His name is Taylor. Doleac did not make the trip to Indianapolis. It was the couple's first child.

• Wolves owner Glen Taylor was called by the league office and told his comments about Kevin Garnett were inappropriate. He was not fined.