Monday gave us the first look, and honestly, it looked better than a first look has any right to. Minnesota ran Milwaukee off the floor 116-97, and the number that mattered wasn’t on the scoreboard. It was the 33 percent Milwaukee shot for the night, 29 in a first half where the defense already moved like it had been together for years. Ant was cold from the field, 4-of-13, and it didn’t cost anybody a thing. LaMelo, in Edwards’ telling, played like his hair was on fire, and the starters built a lead big enough to spend the whole second half in sweatpants.
That’s one game. One exhibition, starters on a 17-minute pitch count, nobody keeping the receipts. So before we fit anybody for a banner, Indiana rolls in on Wednesday, and the setting is the whole story.
This one isn’t in Minneapolis or Indianapolis. It’s at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, the first NBA exhibition played there since 2018, because this is Tyrese Haliburton’s homecoming. The former Iowa State star tore his Achilles in Game 7 of the 2025 Finals, missed the entire season, and watched the Pacers crater to 19-63 without him, the worst record in franchise history. He’s healthy now, and he’s walking into a building full of people who remember exactly who he was. Minnesota’s job is to make the reunion a little less warm. So here are the keys.
1. Make Haliburton earn his homecoming. Haliburton is a tempo engine, and Indiana wants to run every chance it gets. The Wolves smothered Milwaukee by walling off the paint and contesting everything; the harder test is a real conductor pushing in transition in front of a crowd dying to roar. Ball, Edwards and McDaniels have the length to pick him up at 94 feet. Deny him the easy early-clock looks and the comfortable rhythm, and the homecoming gets quiet fast.
2. Wall off Siakam, the one sure thing Indy has left. With Myles Turner gone to Milwaukee, Pascal Siakam is the halfcourt offense now. Gobert’s coverage and whoever draws the Siakam assignment have to keep him off the elbow and away from the rim. This is also where Minnesota’s own spacing gets stress-tested, Kuminga and Rudy sharing the floor near the paint. The answer is Kuminga attacking downhill before the help ever sets.
3. The bench owes us a better night than Monday. Terrence Shannon Jr. went 1-of-5 and Isaiah Evans missed all six. Against a rebuilding Pacers group leaning on reserves, this is the night for the back half of the rotation to show a pulse, especially with DiVincenzo out rehabbing that Achilles and the guard depth thinner for it. Handle your business, get the young guys clean looks, load everybody back on the bus in one piece.
It still doesn’t count. Passes will sail, somebody will brick a wide-open corner three, and the box score is forgotten by Thursday. But Haliburton gets his night in Ames, and we get our second look at whether the summer teardown was worth the heartbreak.
Spoil the homecoming.
Keep the bodies whole.
We’ll take it from there.
