How Shorthanded 76ers Nearly Completed Comeback Over Timberwolves
Saturday’s matchup between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Minnesota Timberwolves had the makings of a “burn the tape” type of game for the home team.
As the Sixers missed three of five starters with Tobias Harris, James Harden, and Tyrese Maxey all out, the team leaned on a supporting cast of Shake Milton, DeAnthony Melton, Danuel House, and PJ Tucker for Joel Embiid.
In the first quarter of action, the Sixers shot well, but the Timberwolves were more efficient. As a result, Minnesota got off to a 33-23 start. The Sixers had a much better outing in the second quarter on offense, but the Timberwolves still managed to outscore them by two points.
In the first half, the Timberwolves led by as many as 20 points. From the start of the game, Minnesota controlled the scoreboard as they were first to garner a lead and never let go of it by the time the second quarter approached. By halftime, the Timberwolves were up 63-51 over the Sixers.
A blowout seemed to be brewing in South Philly, but the Sixers still had a chance.
In the third quarter, the Sixers had a decent offensive showing. Mostly everybody who picked up minutes coming out of the half had a hand in the team’s 33 points. Once again, though, they didn’t have an answer for the Timberwolves’ offensive attack, who shot nearly 60 percent from the field and drained 34 points.
Going into the fourth quarter, the Sixers were entering empty the limited bench territory for good as they trailed 97-84.
Philadelphia’s fourth-quarter adjustment was a final attempt to try and climb back into the matchup to give themselves a shot to expand their win streak from three to four, despite having key injuries.
Getting in the Zone
“We’ve been good at it,” said Doc Rivers regarding the Sixers’ zone defense. “We are longer this year. I think that helps. With Joel and PJ, we have the right unit. Tonight, the zone worked, and we didn’t have what we considered to be our best zone unit on the floor. I would say that’s the reason for a couple of those threes that they did get, but overall, it was fantastic.”
Minnesota head coach Chris Finch mentioned that Philadelphia’s zone defense “stagnated” his team. Typically he’s pleased with his team’s ball movement in late-game situations, but the Sixers complicated what the Timberwolves wanted to accomplish in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game.
“It was almost like they had a circuit failure while we were in the zone,” said Sixers forward Georges Niang. “They didn’t know what they were doing. We were forcing up bad shots, and from there on out, it was us getting the rebound and getting transition points and open shots.”
“I think we were able to disrupt some rhythm and make them a little bit uncomfortable,” Shake Milton added. “We don’t have a lot of guys too. So, conserve some energy, and just totally look out there, and I think that helped us.”
Sixers guard De’Anthony Melton had a solid offensive outing on Friday night with 19 points in 36 minutes, but his defense is what really shined bright. In that time, he snatched a game-high of five steals and blocked a shot from the perimeter in crunch time. When the Sixers made their switch to the zone, he certainly reaped the benefits.
“We were playing with the hands,” Melton said. “We kind of understood where they were trying to attack us in a zone. Then you know, once they got the ball to certain spots, we just knew we had to match up and guard.”
Minnesota chucked up 18 shots in the final 12 minutes. They drained just 22 percent of their field goals and knocked down only two of their ten shots from beyond the arc. Going into the fourth quarter, Minnesota had just 12 turnovers. They coughed up the ball eight more times in the final quarter alone.
“We didn’t play defense for three quarters,” Joel Embiid stated. “Then in the fourth, obviously, we went to zone. They didn’t really know what to run and what to do against it. We just didn’t play defense for three quarters, and we put ourselves in a big hole down 15-20 for most of the game. Unfortunately, it was a little too much to overcome.”
76ers center Joel Embiid wasn’t pleased with his team’s defensive performance for the majority of Saturday night’s matchup. But if they can consistently mirror what they did defensively in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game, the 76ers will find plenty of success.
For now, the Sixers will head into a two-day break with their first loss in four games. Next up on the schedule, they’ll take on the Brooklyn Nets in South Philly on Tuesday night.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.
