The Pacers received a pleasant surprise on Friday night when forward Danny Granger returned to the lineup after missing more than a month with a heel injury.

Indiana fell to Minnesota, but coach Jim O'Brien is happy to have Granger back, putting the team as close to full strength as they have been all season.

"We didn't have another guy like him that could space the court and be a power forward," O'Brien said. "Now you can use Brandon Rush and Mike Dunleavy and Danny, which by far has been our best lineup to date. That's what we missed more than the apparent things."

Even though Granger started in his return, O'Brien plans to monitor his star's minutes.

"Danny's missed half of our games," O'Brien said. "You almost have a preseason mentality to play him in short stints and make sure that he's not obviously fatigued out there. That's when they're more vulnerable to injury."

Granger played 31 minutes against the Timberwolves, scoring 19 points on 7-for-19 shooting to go along with six rebounds.