Timberwolves-Pacers Preseason: Why This Total Is Begging to Stay Under

The Timberwolves roll into Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Wednesday for the kind of October exhibition that separates sharp bettors from suckers chasing last year's box scores. That 235.5 total? It's priced like we're getting 48 minutes of Anthony Edwards and Tyrese Haliburton going nuclear. We're not.

Preseason basketball is a different animal. Starters log 18-25 minutes if they're lucky, then it's a parade of two-way contracts and training camp hopefuls bricking open threes. Last season's offensive metrics—Minnesota's 114.9 rating, Indiana's 109.2—mean absolutely nothing when rotations stretch to 12-deep and nobody's game-planning beyond "don't get hurt."

The Pacers are already down Larry Nance Jr. and T.J. McConnell as day-to-day, thinning an already experimental rotation. Minnesota's dealing with roster turnover that won't show its true form until games actually matter. Pace will drag, execution will sputter, and both benches will get extended run in garbage-time conditions that start in the third quarter.

DarkHorse likes the under 235.5 here, and it's hard to argue. Books set these lines for regular-season intensity that simply doesn't exist in early October. Take the under and thank us when the final horn sounds with 215 on the board.