By: Kylan Watson

After falling to the New Orleans Pelicans last night, the Philadelphia 76ers faced the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight for the first time this season. Both teams were missing players but thanks to a third and fourth quarter scoring explosion from Tyrese Maxey, Philly was able to beat down Minnesota 135-108 and snap their four-game losing streak.

The Sixers started this game off slowly having played last night and the Timberwolves were able to score buckets and take the early lead. However, Philly showed incredible fight throughout this contest, which they did not show last night. Which allowed them to erase the Timberwolves’ early lead, and they carried the game from that point on.

Tyrese Maxey (39 points), VJ Edgecombe (24 points), Quentin Grimes (19 points) and Kelly Oubre Jr. (18 points) combined for 100 of the Sixers 135 points. That was the difference in this game for the first time in a while the Sixers had the better second unit and they won their second game in the month of February.

Philly utilized more ball movement on the offensive side instead of relying on isolation plays, and it unlocked their offense against a top contender in the Western Conference. The ball moved faster than Minnesota’s defenders and a high-percentage shot was created and converted by the Sixers. When they have their offense working like that combined with aggressive defensive play, they usually win those games. The Timberwolves just had no response to what the Sixers were doing and every time they would go on a run in this contest, Philly had the answer and were able to retake control of the game.

Despite the offensive explosion from Maxey, Edgecombe, Grimes, and Oubre Jr, the Timberwolves did not give up. Anthony Edwards scored 28 points in this contest and did all he could to drag his team to the finish line. However, the Sixers sent double and triple teams to him to get the ball out of his hands and that either led to a miss shot or a turnover for Minnesota and an easy bucket for Philly. That was what cost the Timberwolves this game they turned the ball over 20 times and Philly turned a majority of those into points.

In the third quarter when the Timberwolves trimmed Philly’s 16 plus point lead to single digits, Maxey scored 13 of his 39 points in that quarter to push the Sixers lead back up to double digits and take this game from Minnesota. This was one of his best scoring performances of the season as he scored from all three levels in this contest.

His teammates gave him some help as well, especially Edgecombe who his 6/7 three-pointers (career high) and they needed all those buckets to seal this game. Edgecombe’s continued improvement from the three-point line has saved the Sixers multiple times this season and it will be a dangerous weapon for him as he continues to develop his game. It continues to add another dimension to the Sixers offense and will only improve once Joel Embiid and Paul George return to the line-up.

Philly will now prepare to face the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday night, and they will need to limit their turnovers, win, or keep the rebounding battle competitive, stay connected to their defensive assignments, and cash in on the high-percentage shooting opportunities created from their ball movement. Implementing these things into their game plan for Tuesday night will put them in great shape to win their 32^nd game of the season.