By: Kylan Watson

The Philadelphia 76ers faced off with the Minnesota Timberwolves who are the number one team in the Western Conference. This was a huge test for Philly who were facing a team in their weight class for the first time in a few weeks. Both of these teams proved why they are one of the top three teams in their respective conferences.  As they traded blows throughout this contest, but thanks to a 19-point third quarter offensive explosion from Joel Embiid.  Philly was able to pull away beating the Wolves 127-113 and with this statement victory staking their claim to being an NBA title contender.

Minnesota played like the team who needed it more early in this contest they jumped on Philly from the opening tip-off. Before the Sixers could even settle into this game they were down by eight-points and the Timberwolves were threatening to runaway with this contest in the first few minutes of the game. However, the Sixers were able to weather the early storm thanks to the duo of Tyrese Maxey (35-points, hit five/12 three-pointers, and had five-assists) and Joel Embiid (51-points, grabbed 12-rebounds, and had three-assists) who combined for 86 of Philly’s 127-points. Both players got whatever they wanted from the field and there was no player the Wolves had available who could stop either one of them in this contest. They both played like the number one scoring duo in the league and when they play like they did tonight not many teams can compete with the Sixers on any given night. Embiid scored 19 of his 51-points in the third quarter this was the defining quarter for Philly as they had to overcome an offensive explosion from Anthony Edwards and Embiid’s two-way ability played a pivotal part in helping keep the Sixers in this game. In one sequence he shutdown a Minnesota alley-oop opportunity and that led to an easy bucket for Philly. On another occasion he blocked an Anthony Edwards dunk opportunity that led to another Sixers lay-up opportunity. Games like tonight really show any basketball fan Embiid’s (He became the first player since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1972 to have 12-straight games of 30-points and at least 10-rebounds) value as he made his presence felt on both sides of the ball and his scoring and defensive abilities helped the Sixers pull off another victory over one of the best teams in the league.

The Timberwolves continued to fight throughout this contest and were led by the trio of Anthony Edwards (27-points), Karl Anthony-Towns (23-points), and Jaden McDaniels (21-points) who combined for 71 of Minnesota’s 113-points.  Early in this contest there was not much the Sixers could do to stop either one of these players. Each of them got whatever they wanted from the field and their length and athleticism gave the Sixers defenders fits they would rise up over outstretch arms, and if the Sixers played them too tight they would attack the rim and get them in foul trouble. Edwards in particular was a problem throughout this contest and he was singlehandedly killing the Sixers and went off once DeAnthony Melton went down with a knee injury. The Sixers were down a significant portion of their wing depth, but enter Pat Beverley who made Edwards work for every point and forced him to take difficult shots and he could not make them later in the contest. Coach Nurse gave Tobias Harris the KAT assignment and he did just enough with his active defense to slow him down and force him into bad turnovers with his active hands and the most important thing when playing KAT is to not foul him and he did that tonight.  It will not show up on the scoreboard but Harris’ defense helped the Sixers win this game.  He slowed down the second best scorer on Minnesota’s team and forced someone else to beat them tonight and that did not happen.

The Sixers will now prepare to face the Toronto Raptors on Friday night and the Sixers will need to get a third scorer to show-up in these contests. It has not happen against the Chicago Bulls and did not happen against Minnesota in this contest. Most of that is because the Sixers supporting cast has not been hitting their shots and the ball has been moving the shots just won’t find the bottom of the . The ball will need to continue to move to get these players their shots and eventually the shots will fall and that should create more room for Embiid and Maxey to operate. Additionally, the Sixers will need to continue to play ferocious perimeter defense to keep Pascal Siakam and Scottie Barnes in check. They will also need to hold the Raptors offense to one possession they cannot afford to embolden Toronto by allowing them to get offensive rebounds and get more opportunities for their shots to fall. If they can implement these things they should be able to get their 20^th victory of the season.