GRADES: Philadelphia 76ers 117, Minnesota Timberwolves 95
By Ashley Foltz
The Philadelphia 76ers walloped the Minnesota Timberwolves en route to a 4-0 record.
The Philadelphia 76ers went into this game looking to go 4-0 for the first time since the 2000-01 season, and they did just that. The Sixers met up with an old friend, Robert Covington, and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Tempers ran high and the bench came alive as the Sixers handed Minnesota their first loss of the season, 117-95.
The first quarter got off to sort of a slow start. The Sixers got into a groove of making small mindless errors. They made two quick turnovers in the first four minutes of play. Ben Simmons began to push the offensive tempo, even with a few turnovers of his own. The Sixers ended the quarter shooting 50 percent from the field, and led the Timberwolves 32-24.
Nothing will be talked about more in the game than how the Embiid-Towns rivalry finally escalated into a full out brawl. After knocking the ball out of Towns’ hands and into Simmons’, the two went after each other. Every player on the court came together to rip the two apart. Of course, Embiid came up smiling. After a long wait, the officials announced the two were ejected. That didn’t get Embiid down though as he reenacted Rocky on his way out as the crowd chanted “MVP”.
Even with the absence of Embiid for a majority of the second half, the Sixers held their own by maintaining around a 20 point lead for most of the game.
The bench made themselves even more present in the final quarter of the game. Korkmaz aided in adding momentum to the court, something we haven’t seen from him since summer league. James Ennis quietly made his impact contributing eight points and 11 rebounds.
Josh Richardson played silently tonight with 12 points as he shot 50 percent from three-point range.
With Embiid out, I would have thought that Kyle O’Quinn would have gotten some more time. He saw the court for five minutes which only translated to one defensive rebound.
Philadelphia 76ers. BEN SIMMONS. A-. <strong>32 mins | 17 pts | 3 reb | 7 ast | 3 stl | 2 blk | 6 TO | 7-13 FG | 0-0 3PT| 2-4 FT | 3 PF | +19 |</strong><p>Besides being the catalyst in ripping apart Embiid and Towns, <a href=. PG
B+. <strong>33 mins | 12 pts | 16 reb | 4 ast | 0 stl | 0 blk | 1 TO | 5-12 FG | 1-3 3PT| 1-2 FT | 4 PF | + 26 |</strong><p>As the numbers show, <a href=. PF. Philadelphia 76ers. AL HORDFORD
SG. Philadelphia 76ers. FURKAN KORKMAZ. B. <strong>17 mins | 17 pts | 0 reb | 2 ast | 0 stl | 0 blk | 1 TO | 5-10 FG | 3-8 3PT| 4-5 FT | 2 PF | + 9 |</strong><p><a href=
B-. <strong>33 mins | 18 pts | 9 reb | 2 ast | 1 stl | 0 blk | 3 TO | 7-15 FG | 1-3 3PT| 3-3 FT | 5 PF | + 18 |</strong><p><a href=. PF. Philadelphia 76ers. TOBIAS HARRIS
<strong>20 mins | 9pts | 3 reb | 1 ast | 4 stl | 2 blk | 3 TO | 2-5 FG | 1-3 3PT| 4-4 FT | 4 PF | + 4 |</strong><p><a rel=. G. Philadelphia 76ers. MATISSE THYBULLE. C+
The Sixers are one of two remaining undefeated NBA teams (the other being the 3-0 San Antonio Spurs). This team is showing a tremendous amount of promise, even this early in the season.
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We’ll see if they can keep up their win streak as they travel to Portland to take on the Trail Blazers (3-2) on Saturday night.