Pacers, Wolves both looking to change course tonight

The Wolves enter tonight's game against Indiana at Target Center with a two-game losing streak, the Pacers with a three-gamer of their own.

Each is hoping a little Christmas break will result in a change of course.

Once 12-5 and threatening Cleveland in the East, the Pacers now are 16-11 after road losses at Memphis and San Antonio and a home loss Wednesday to Sacramento.

Quickly, they are seventh in a unexpectedly competitive Eastern Conference and just a half-game out of missing the playoffs if the season ended today (which, of course, it doesn't).

"I don't think it's time to go into panic mode," Pacers star Paul George said after morning shootaround today. "We just hit that part of the season where it's difficult. I think we just hit our stretch early in terms of teams that go through that struggle. Hopefully, this will be the end for us and we'll start to turn things around, get back into rhythm, get back into the swing of things. Myself, personally, I'm looking forward to getting back to where I've been and back to form."

Pacers coach Frank Vogel has reminded his team not to pay attention to the East standings.

"You can't get too high or too low with the way the East is bunched up right now," he said. "It just doesn't make any sense. You're going to lose a couple games and you're going to slide to seventh (place) or you're going to win a couple games and you're going to be in second. You shouldn't feel like you're in second and you shouldn't feel like you're in 10th if you're in one of those spots. So it's really just a time to concentrate on getting better.

Former Wolves forward Chase Budinger remarked about seeing the Wolves' $25 million training facility, which was just being completed last spring when he left MInnesota and was traded to Indiana over the summer.

"The outside was still under construction," he said. "This is the first time I saw it all finished,"

Traded in July for Damjan Rudez, Budinger said he still text messages Ricky Rubio from time to time and keep in contact with Nikola Pekovic and follows his rehab from April surgery.

"Seeing a lot of familiar faces," Budinger said about his return to a city where he played three seasons. "It feels a little weird."