MINNEAPOLIS _ Where have you gone, Jimmy Butler?
With their new three-time All Star, the Timberwolves started the season 2-1 with a week in which they played respected Western Conference foes San Antonio, Utah and Oklahoma City.
But with Butler out ill Tuesday, the Wolves were practically both played and booed off the Target Center floor during a dreadful 130-107 loss to the Indiana Pacers.
Two nights after a thrilling, buzzer-beating 115-113 victory at Oklahoma City, the Wolves permitted the formerly 1-2 Pacers to shoot a stunning 66.7 percent from the field without Butler around to anchor their defense.
That on a night when they themselves shot better than 50 percent from the field but could barely make a free throw.
Butler was scratched from the lineup shortly before opening tip because of what the team called an upper respiratory illness.
Without him, the Wolves fell behind by as many as 16 points in the opening quarter and by as many as 23 in the final one.
Young star Andrew Wiggins made the winning, desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer Sunday against the Thunder, but he made just one of six free throws and scored a mere seven points on Tuesday after he scored 26, 21 and 27 points in the first three games.
The Wolves made 14 of 22 free throws all night.
Victor Oladipo led the Pacers with 28 points while Wolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns matched that for the Wolves.
By night's end, Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau had emptied his bench and put Cole Aldrich, Aaron Brooks and Marcus Georges-Hunt on the floor.
Entering Tuesday's game, Butler was tied with Teague for third in Wolves' scoring with a 13.3 point average after he often chose to defer and get others involved in the season's first three games.
"I don't worry about Jimmy," Thibodeau said. "His defense and his toughness, those rebounds in traffic with the game on the line, he did that two games in a row. That's all heart, toughness and knowing how to win. ... But Jimmy can score. I don't worry about that at all."
His team? Now that's another matter to worry about, at least Tuesday night.
The Pacers led 28-12 and 30-14 by late in the first quarter before the Wolves answered with a 26-12 run that tied the score at 42 with 6:30 left before halftime.
Indiana responded by simply scoring the next eight points for a 53-45 lead that the Wolves whittled away before they twice took a two-point lead before halftime.
Former Wolves big man Al Jefferson's putback basket at the first-half buzzer sent the game into halftime tied at 61.
