Minnesota Timberwolves: Takeaways from win over Philadelphia 76ers

Few players can out-do what Joel Embiid provided the Philadelphia 76ers Saturday. Fortunately for the Minnesota Timberwolves, at least on this night, D’Angelo Russell was one of those players.

After struggling through three quarters, Russell turned it on in the fourth quarter and both overtimes of the Wolves’ 121-120 victory, draining numerous tough threes and generating the biggest play of the game: a steal and assist to Taurean Prince on a tough transition layup to take the lead in the final five seconds of the game.

Russell scored 27 of his season-high 35 points in the final three frames and added many more moments to the “ice in his veins” catalog of his career. Even still, Russell was quick to put his performance in context afterward.

“Team, team, team. Good screens, good defense as a team,” Russell told Katie Storm postgame when she asked about his big night. “We ran plays for each other, simple as that. It wasn’t me; you thought it was, y’all saw that, but I was just a product of us playing together.”

For his part, Embiid scored 42 points and added 14 rebounds for the night after missing Philly’s previous nine games following a positive COVID-19 test. Embiid appeared winded throughout the night but got whatever he wanted in the second half and overtimes.

Here are three other takeaways from the wildest, most entertaining game of the Timberwolves’ season so far.