Timberwolves Wrap: Wolves dominated in loss to 76ers

The Timberwolves were humiliated by a hot Philadelphia 76ers team on Sunday evening in the City of Brotherly Love.

The Philadelphia 76ers entered Sunday’s game against the Timberwolves on a five-game winning streak, but hadn’t played a team with a winning record in weeks. As it turns out, that didn’t matter.

The Sixers were certainly raring to go in this one, playing with intensity for the first three quarters and building a massive lead that forced most of the starters to the bench before the third quarter had even ended.

The game was relatively close until the Sixers built a double-digit lead midway through the second frame, but a quick 6-0 run by Minnesota in the closing moments of the first half, including an off-balance buzzer-beater from Jamal Crawford, made it a seven-point deficit at the break.

Karl-Anthony Towns was in early foul trouble, which is exactly what the Wolves could not afford. Joel Embiid was quiet early but came to life as the Sixers built their second quarter lead. The Wolves’ offense never seemed to flow quite right, and they had a number of shots that simply rimmed out.

The third quarter was beyond sloppy, and the Sixers outscored the Wolves by a 39-19 margin as they built their enormous advantage.

In the fourth quarter, a bench lineup of Tyus Jones, Aaron Brooks, Marcus Georges-Hunt, Gorgui Dieng, and Cole Aldrich got the game as close as nine points in the final two minutes and forced the Sixers to reinsert the starters, but they did just enough to keep Minnesota at arm’s length.

Tweet of the Night

Not game-related, but let’s talk about Jimmy Butler‘s upcoming return instead, shall we?

Game Takeaways

• The Wolves played hard to start but seemingly quit when the official’s calls weren’t going their way and the Sixers played harder. Then, they began the processes of mailing it in.
• It was encouraging to see the second/third unit players play as hard as they did when down by 20+. Brooks, Jones, and Georges-Hunt all looked particularly good.
• Andrew Wiggins had a solid all-around game, but outside of a couple of early threes from Karl-Anthony Towns, the rest of the starters struggled mightily. The defensive rotations were far from crisp, and the offense was sloppy throughout.
• The Wolves will now have Sunday off before beginning a stretch against beatable, non-playoff teams. This loss, on a back-to-back against a solid playoff team (not to mention still missing Jimmy Butler), wasn’t exactly a shock. The manner in which the starters were beat was, however.

Notable Timberwolves Box Score Lines

• Karl-Anthony Towns: 15 points (3-15 FG, 2-6 3P, 7-8 FT), 11 rebounds, one steal, one block, one assist
• Andrew Wiggins: 16 points (7-17 FG, 0-3 3P, 2-5 FT), 8 rebounds, 4 assists
• Gorgui Dieng: 15 points (6-12 FG, 1-1 3P, 2-2 FT), 11 rebounds, 2 blocks, one assist, one steal
• Jamal Crawford: 13 points (4-10 FG, 0-2 3P, 5-6 FT), one rebound, one assist
• Tyus Jones: 11 points (4-6 FG, 0-1 3P, 3-3 FT), 6 assists, 3 rebounds, 3 steals

Next: Timberwolves Power Rankings: A winning record in sight

What’s Next?

The Wolves will enjoy Sunday off in Minneapolis before hosting the tanking Memphis Grizzlies on Monday evening at Target Center.