Jones’ 19 Fourth Quarter Points Help Pacers Rally Past Timberwolves 116-105

For threee quarters Friday night during the game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Indiana Pacers, it certainly appeared that the T-Wolves were going to pull out a rare (for them, anyways) road win.

But then Dahntay Jones exploded.

Jones, who was scoreless through three quarters of play, scored 19 fourth quarter points, allowing Indiana to rally and beat Minnesota 116-105 at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Mike Dunleavy was the hot hand early for the Pacers as he scored 14 of the team’s first 16 points and led 18-9 before the Timberwolves quickly cut into the lead and made the game close during the first half. Minnesota took a slim two-point lead to their locker room at the intermission.

The T-Wolves increased their lead to nine before the Pacers rallied and manufactured a 16-8 run; it remained close for the remainder of the third as Minnesota took a 90-83 lead into the final period.

A.J. Price scored eight points during a Pacers 10-3 run to start the fourth for Indiana; a pair of free throws by Jones gave the Pacers their first lead of the second half at 95-94 with 9 minutes remaining, and would not trail again for the remainder of the contest.

Six Pacers scored in double-digits with two sharing high scoring honors; Danny Granger and Jones each led their team with 19 points apiece – with Granger grabbing 6 rebounds, along with 3 steals and a block while Jones grabbed a rebound and dished out 2 assists. Dunleavy added 15 (including three 3-pointers), along with 3 rebounds and an assist while Tyler Hansbrough chipped in 14 with 5 rebounds.

The Timberwolves were led by Kevin Love with 22 points, along with 15 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals while Nikola Pekovic added 15 with 6 rebounds. Wayne Ellington and Lazar Hayward each chipped in 14 – with Ellington grabbing 4 rebounds, dishing out 3 assists, along with a steal while Hayward grabbed 4 boards, along with a steal and a block.

Both teams return to action on Saturday night as Indiana (23-28) makes the short trip to Milwaukee to take on the Bucks while Minnesota (13-40) returns home to host the Philadelphia 76ers.

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