MINNEAPOLIS — — Anthony Edwards scored 31 points, Karl-Anthony Towns added 23 points and 11 rebounds and the Minnesota Timberwolves rallied in the fourth quarter for a 112-99 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers, who were playing without MVP center Joel Embiid, Wednesday.
Embiid missed his first game of the season for Philadelphia with left hip soreness after playing 38 minutes with 38 points and 12 rebounds in the 76ers’ 122-119 overtime loss at Cleveland a night earlier. Philadelphia is also without Kelly Oubre Jr. due to a fractured rib.
Without Embiid, the Sixers had no answer to Minnesota’s two big lineups, Towns and Rudy Gobert. Gobert had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who earned their third straight victory and have won 10 of 11.
Minnesota was playing its first game without forward Jaden McDaniels, who the team announced would be out two to three weeks with a Grade 1 right lateral ankle sprain suffered in Monday’s win over New York. York.
The Wolves, who began the day ranked second in the league in defensive rating, jumped out to an early lead in Game 1, with many Philadelphia regulars logging plenty of minutes in the previous night’s overtime game.
Minnesota made 8 of its first 11 shots, while the Sixers had seven turnovers in the first quarter as the Wolves led by 19 in the first. Philadelphia managed to come back for a good second to get back to 44-41.
But Edwards had 13 of his points in the third as Minnesota maintained its lead and eventually led by as many as 21 in the fourth.
