The return of Embiid and Harris also meant that the Sixers returned to a semi-regular rotation. He then drove and finished to cut Minnesota’s lead to 91-88.
Double shot at love free#
He also got free for a transition layup that got the Sixers within 91-86 with about six minutes to play.
His rebound and follow, dunk off a feed from Andre Drummond, and two free throws cut Minnesota’s lead to 80-76. With the Sixers surging after cutting the Timberwolves’ lead to 64-58, Harris badly missed a transition three-pointer.īut with Embiid off the floor to start the fourth, Harris got going.
He clanked a three-pointer off the back iron in the first half’s final minute. His next attempt did not come until late in the second, when his jumper was blocked. He attempted only one shot in the first quarter. Harris, meanwhile, said his hip felt “better.” He also got it going after the break, totaling 11 of his points and four of his rebounds in the fourth quarter. “I was supposed to kind of roll, and I popped, so it made his angle a little harder to throw that pass, so next time we’re definitely gonna do a better job.” He also interjected to say he was responsible for Maxey’s final turnover. “So once I’m on the court, might as well just do whatever it takes.”Įmbiid, though, also blamed himself for the defeat, pointing to two untimely turnovers and one missed free throw late in regulation and in the second overtime as reasons why they could not finish off the victory. “I’m happy to be back with these guys and I love playing basketball,” Embiid said. Later, an old-fashioned three-point play cut the Timberwolves’ to 95-93 with less than five minutes to go in regulation, before his crunch-time heroics. And a finger roll got the Sixers within 71-70 in the period’s final minute. Another turnaround 8-footer cut Minnesota’s lead to 71-65 with less than three minutes to play in the quarter. His pull-up jumper to cut Minnesota’s lead to 64-52 in the third quarter helped ignite the Sixers’ run to get within six. But he gained steam during the Sixers’ comeback, when they outscored Minnesota 29-16 in the third and 30-28 in the fourth. Yet Embiid started the game slowly, missing five of his first seven shots but generating scoring by going 6-of-8 from the free throw line. That was not an exaggeration, as Embiid scored all seven of the Sixers’ points in the second extra period. He “was carrying us all throughout the overtimes,” Harris said. Earlier, he had hit a pull-up three-pointer with less than two minutes to play in regulation to give the Sixers a 98-95 advantage, a go-ahead jumper with less than two minutes to play in overtime, and two free throws to give Philly a 108-107 edge about one minute later.Įmbiid did not believe he was going to play Saturday, after a difficult bout with COVID-19 that included trouble breathing and headaches that “were worse than a migraine.” He said he could not get up and down the floor more than three times during a Friday workout, making it “a miracle” that he played more than 45 minutes on Saturday.Įmbiid did not just play. His three consecutive buckets, including a fadeaway with less than two minutes to play in double overtime, gave the Sixers a 120-117 lead. He scored 25 of his 42 points in the fourth quarter and two extra frames. Until the final seconds, it appeared Embiid would propel his team to victory.
Clearly, he’s been working out, and he showed us that.” “Played a ton of minutes, something you just don’t know from COVID. “Joel would take 30 and win, if you know what I’m saying. “Joel was phenomenal tonight, but we still lost the game,” head coach Doc Rivers said. The outcome spoiled the Sixers’ homecoming following a six-game road trip and a fabulous 42-point, 14-rebound outing from superstar Joel Embiid, who had missed the previous nine games in health and safety protocols after testing positive for COVID-19 on Nov. They had a three-point lead with less than two minutes to play in the second extra frame, but surrendered two consecutive buckets - including a Taurean Prince game-winner - and committed a costly turnover in the final 31 seconds. They countered D’Angelo Russell’s ice-in-his-veins shot-making by forcing double overtime with a purposely missed free throw and tip-in. In a wild 121-120 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Wells Fargo Center, the Sixers got off to a clunky and ineffective start and then rallied from 20 points down in the second half to take the lead late in regulation. The 76ers could not quite get over the finish line in double overtime. Sixers coach Doc Rivers said Saturday’s matchup against Minnesota would be one “that we have to dig deep to win” after the cross-country trip back from the West Coast.
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