How to Watch the Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Indiana Pacers Game

You couldn’t script a more “welcome home, now fight for your life” kind of opener if you tried. The Wolves limp back to Minneapolis after coughing ...

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What is the story about?

You couldn’t script a more “welcome home, now fight for your life” kind of opener if you tried.

The Wolves limp back to Minneapolis after coughing up a frustrating loss to Luka and the Lakers. But now it’s time to hit the reset button. Lights back on at Target Center. Finally.

Wolves vs. Pacers. Sunday night. Banner-level tension for Game 3 of 82.

This is the home opener, but there’s no easing into anything. The league gave the Wolves an appetizer with the Blazers before throwing them to the lions.

Friday night against Luka and the refs, followed by the Eastern Conference Champion Pacers, Jokic and the Nuggets on Peacock 24 hours later. And after that? Another dance with the Lakers. Holy hell.

This is trial by oxygen deprivation.

THE PACERS ARE NOT A WARM-UP — THEY ARE PUBLIC TRAUMA

Wolves fans haven’t forgotten Obi Toppin ending human hope with that OT dagger last year. Or the embarrassment days later when Indiana absolutely ran Minnesota off the floor, like middle schoolers getting a tour of how real NBA offenses are supposed to function.

That Pacers team went on to win the East and push OKC to Game 7 of the Finals. This isn’t a vibes team. They’re legit. They’re seasoned. And by the way, they love playing the Timberwolves. It’s almost unsettling.

If Minnesota rolls into this game still cranky about the Lakers loss instead of furious about it then Target Center is getting humbled. Again.

THE VIBES INSIDE THE BUILDING ARE GOING TO BE ABSOLUTE FIRE

Packed house. Weekend energy. Pent-up, borderline unstable hype. That kind of “If Ant drops 50 tonight I’m proposing to my girlfriend in Section 128” emotional volatility.

And this is exactly where a wolf like Anthony Edwards usually sniffs blood. He cannot jog into this one. He needs to stomp into it and leave no question who the best player on the floor is.

It’s not that losing would be a disaster.

It’s that not sending a message would be.

The West is a knife fight this year. You don’t get cute. You don’t warm up. You blitz people. You erase narratives before they calcify. You make Target Center a place people dread landing in.

Sunday is the first chance to prove last year was a beginning, not a peak.

Tip at 6 p.m. CDT on FanDuel Sports Network – North.

For those of you without NBA League Pass or FanDuel Sports Network North as part of your TV package, FDSN-N is offering Canis Hoopus readers a 30-day free trial, which you can scoop up by clicking the link in this article.