What is the story about?
Don’t look now, but the Sixers haven’t just won two games in a row, they’ve won two third quarters in a row.
Philadelphia took down the Minnesota Timberwolves 115-103 Friday night.
They are now 43-34 and will remain in the sixth seed.
Paul George had the only good first half for Philly, leading them with 23 points on 6-of-15 shooting.
Tyrese Maxey came storming out of halftime to lead the Sixers with 21 points and eight assists shooting 7-of-13 from the floor. Joel Embiid was also able to shake off the first
half to finish with 19 points and 13 rebounds going 6-of-17 from the floor.
VJ Edgecombe was never able to find much space, finishing with just eight points on nine shots. Bones Hyland and Julius Randle led the Wolves with 21 apiece.
Jaden McDaniels was out for the Wolves with a knee injury while the Sixers were only without Johni Broome (meniscus tear).
Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.
First Quarter
- Despite getting some good looks the Sixers opened the game pretty sloppy. They had two turnovers, throwing the ball way behind its target. Embiid gave up a couple offensive rebounds and missed a couple shots that are normally automatic for him. Edgecombe and George both hit their first jumpers of the game, Maxey and Dominick Barlow were able to get out and run early, and Minnesota missed six of their first seven shots.
- The Wolves did look like they had played the night before, but the Sixers defense was stellar to start the night, especially protecting the rim. They blocked several shots in the first — Maxey and Barlow each impressively denying a shot in transition. Embiid hit a jumper coming out of a timeout, but he still couldn’t find a rhythm. He had a three-point shot blocked and undid Maxey’s block by immediately turning it over. He was able to make up for that at least by swatting the following Wolves’ shot.
- Barlow really was everywhere, pulling down seven rebounds in the quarter before having to sit with two fouls. George replaced him and broke down his defender off the dribble to nail a jumper on his first touch back before getting to the line the following possession. He tried to take Donte DiVincenzo off the dribble with the quarter winding down, but the ball got booted into the stands, a good summary of the offensive production from both teams so far. DiVincenzo hit a corner three on the other end to pull Minnesota within two.
Second Quarter
- More solid stuff from George to start the second as he got himself a pull-up, found a cutting Adem Bona on the baseline, and got to the line again. The first player to get anything going offensively though was Bones Hyland. He ripped off 14 in the quarter, impressively drawing a foul on a floater before heating up from outside.
- Kyle Anderson was also becoming a problem, getting a few floaters with that old guy at the YMCA bag. The Sixers’ offense had dried up despite a Maxey and Embiid lineup taking the floor. They went over three minutes without a basket in the half court. To pile on Embiid was grabbing his side after a Julius Randle drive, Maxey was favoring his back after getting tied up on a jump ball with Ayo Dosunmu, and George was bonked on the head by Rudy Gobert incidentally going up for a rebound.
- Embiid’s 1-of-10 half would have looked a lot better if a couple shots didn’t rim out, but at the same time he was settling for a lot of jumpers. He only took three shots in the paint and was favoring his side for much of the second quarter, but the recovery he made to block a Dosunmu layup did look pretty good. George continued to be the only Sixer shooting it well though, and silly mistakes followed him as well such as getting T’d up for throwing the ball against the stanchion. After Anthony Edwards made that technical free throw, George hit two more as well to make it a six-point deficit at the break.
Third Quarter
- On the first possession of the second half, Embiid made as many field goals as he had all first half, but Maxey came out of the half showing a bit more aggression. After he buried a three, he was able to get all the way to the rim for a layup. Another drive led to a wide open kick to Barlow but he couldn’t hit it. That remained the only flaw of Barlow’s night though as he was everywhere around the rim, swatting Gobert for his third block of the night.
- Barlow was rewarded for those efforts immediately as Embiid hit him with a lob in transition. They were able to string a couple solid possessions on offense together and took the lead back after a George steal caused another fast break. That amounted to a 10-0 Sixers run that ironically was halted after the Sixers won a challenge to take possession back.
- With the Sixers shooting under 20% from three for most of the night, anytime the Wolves made a couple in a row it looked like the game could get out of hand. Embiid and Maxey kept going back to their two-man game and it finally started to pay off for them. Maxey hitting shots early in the quarter opened up space for whichever one of the two was catching the drop off from the other. Feeling the need for more size, the Sixers played Embiid with Andre Drummond for the last couple minutes of the quarter. They held the Wolves to one point over that stretch, going on a 15-1 run to go up by 12.
Fourth Quarter
- The minutes with just Drummond started a bit rockier. He gave up a few offensive rebounds, including one he had secured that Randle was able to turn into a jump ball. He did steal the ball off Edwards though, put back a dunk, and threw a nice hit ahead pass as Quentin Grimes was trying his hardest to push the pace. All in all, Drummond ended up being a +11 in his nine minutes of play.
- It helped that the Wolves gave them of plenty of opportunities, but the Sixers constantly being able to get on the fast break is why they were able to pull away. It was the only time Edgecombe found space to do anything. Minnesota kept a lid on him in the half court for much of the night.
- Right after he and Maxey checked back in, Embiid fouled Dosunmu on a three-point attempt, the four-point play making it just a 10-point game with still over four minutes to go. An ugly turnover by George allowed them to cut it to seven a few possessions later. Edgecombe was able to get to the basket for a layup, his best look in the half-court since the first possession of the game. Kelly Oubre Jr. did the same and got fouled in the processs, converting the and-1. Oubre answered four more Wolves points with a three in the corner and one more from the top of the key on the following possession to put the game away.
