Notes from Sixers v.s. Wolves

PHILADELPHIA,PA - MARCH 24 : Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers dunks the ball against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Wells Fargo Center on March 24, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA,PA - MARCH 24 : Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers dunks the ball against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Wells Fargo Center on March 24, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The Philadelphia 76ers won their sixth consecutive game, this time against a playoff-caliber opponent in Minnesota.

I almost started writing my analysis on the Philadelphia 76ers-Minnesota Timberwolves game at the end of the third quarter. The article would have been similar to the last two — Sixers jump all over their opponent and coast for an easy win.

The Sixers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 120-108 and increased their record to 42-30, which is fourth-best in the Eastern Conference. If the playoffs started tomorrow, the Sixers would have the home court advantage against Indiana.

The story should have been how the Sixers took a 59-52 halftime lead and increased it to 27 points at the end of the third quarter (98-71) by holding Minnesota to 15.8 percent shooing in the third quarter (3-19).

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Excuses could be made for Minnesota since they played last night and the Sixers were waiting for them. The real story in this game is that Brett Brown had to re-insert his starters because the Sixers bench let Minnesota’s reserves cut the deficient to nine points with less than three minutes left.

Stat geeks

Ben Simmons got his 10th triple-double of the season (15 points, 12 rebounds, 13 assists), Dario Saric scored 18 points on 6-10 shooting, and Joel Embiid scored 19 points on 6-12 shooting.

The Sixers had 33 assists on 42 made baskets. The Sixer bench statistics — TJ McConnell -14 with three turnovers, Richaun Holmes -17, Furkan Korkmaz -15, Ersan Ilyasova -5, Justin Anderson -11.

These statistics were not accumulated against the Minnesota starters, but the reserves. Minnesota pulled their starters in the fourth quarter. Brett Brown got nervous and re-inserted Embiid, Simmons and Covington with less than three minutes left.

Head-scratching

Hopefully this bench performance will send a message to Sixers management that they may have overvalued some of their players.

How does Brett Brown not give Demetrius Jackson at least a couple of minutes in the fourth quarter? Since Brown wasn’t going to sub for McConnell, running two point guards might have made things easier offensively.

Also, when Brown re-substitutes his starters at the end, how does he leave Saric on the bench? Even in the post-game conference Brown discussed alternating Redick and Belinelli and Ilyasova and Saric depending on who is having the better game.

It’s understood that because of his recent contract extension, the Sixers are committed to Covington. News flash — Saric is clearly a better player than Robert Covington (or Ilyasova). When the playoffs begin and defenses tighten up, the Sixers will need Saric offensively since he is one of a few Sixers that can create his own shot when necessary.

Hopefully Brown will figure that out. He’s already tweaking his playoff rotations by cutting T.J.’s minutes.

Next: Fultz helps solve the Sixers' two biggest issues

NEXT GAME: Monday v.s. Denver