Healthy Bennett, Budinger drive win over Pacers

Two Timberwolves players continued to prove how much difference a new season can make.

Last season Chase Budinger was struggling to return from a second knee surgery. At no point last season did he feel anywhere near 100 percent. Anthony Bennett was a rookie in Cleveland who struggled through great expectations in an injury-slowed season.

Now both are feeling better.

In a preseason game at Target Center, one in which Wolves coach Flip Saunders went with his bench early and often, Budinger and Bennett both played well in a 107-89 victory over Indiana.

Bennett had a team-high 17 points on 7-for-9 shooting and five rebounds in 17 minutes played. Budinger scored 12 points. Those two plus Mo Williams (13 points, nine assists) led a bench that scored 65 points.

"It's like I've been saying all preseason during camp — I feel great. I feel normal," said Budinger, who hit on four of eight shots, including two three-pointers — for the Wolves, who finished the second quarter on a 15-0 run and never looked back. "It's a big joy, just a big joy, getting my legs back."

Bennett? Shaking off a sore left knee that limited him Sunday, he scored 11 of his points in the second quarter, seven in that 15-0 run that broke open a tie game for the Wolves (3-2 in the preseason).

It was a strong effort overall for the Wolves. Saunders, whose main preseason goal is to stay healthy, continued to tinker with rotations, playing nearly all his players, with the exception of Andrew Wiggins, who experienced soreness and swelling on his backside as a result of a fall Sunday; Wiggins likely won't play Wednesday in Milwaukee, either.

Ricky Rubio scored 16 points on 4-for-8 shooting and Kevin Martin added 10 points. The Pacers (2-4) were led by Donald Sloan (19) and Chris Copeland (17).

The Wolves shot 50.6 percent, held the Pacers to 42.3 percent and scored 26 points off 21 Indiana turnovers. Saunders was especially happy at the way the team played defense.

"We were extremely aggressive," he said. "We shrunk the floor, we talked a lot, played well. I liked our defensive intensity."

After Zach LaVine struggled a bit in Friday's preseason game against Milwaukee, Saunders had LaVine watch Sunday's game from the bench with assistant coaches Sydney Lowe and Ryan Saunders.

"It's a learning process," Saunders said of LaVine, the athletic but raw rookie who is being asked to learn both the point guard and shooting guard spots.

"We wanted him to get a feel for how we look at the game as it is going on, how we're trying to play. … I thought, by the end of the fourth quarter, he was understanding more of what we were trying to accomplish.''

Said LaVine: "It's another angle, another perspective. I hope it will help me in the future.''

In an informational meeting before Tuesday's game, the officiating crew went over the league's points of emphasis for the upcoming season while discussing the impact the NBA's new centralized video review center will have on the game.

This season's points of emphasis are illegal screens, traveling violations and the rule of verticality.

The video review center, located in Secaucus, N.J., will help in-game officials with reviews. The center contains multiple monitors, which will give officials several views of the play.

• Singer Vanilla Ice will perform at halftime of the Wolves' home opener Oct. 30

• Rubio, who turned 24 Tuesday, celebrated his birthday with a strong game. "Twenty-four is a lot of years on this team," Rubio said. "I feel like one of the veterans."