PHILADELPHIA – The Timberwolves benefited when 76ers center Joel Embiid decided to sit out the teams' previous matchup on Nov. 22, which became an easy Wolves win.
Timberwolves can't stop Joel Embiid from scoring 51 points in Sixers' 127-113 win
Joel Embiid — who made 17 of 18 free-throw attempts — got plenty of offensive support from Tyrese Maxey, who scored 35 points.
December 21, 2023 at 2:20PM
But the Wolves had no such schedule luck Wednesday in Philadelphia, where the reigning MVP was playing like it and, to hear them tell it, getting that kind of whistle.
Behind Embiid's 51 points, 17 of which came at the free-throw line, Philadelphia pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 127-113 win on a frustrating night for the Wolves.
"Man, my brother was just texting me like, 'Bruh, I ain't never seen nothin' like it.' He's unstoppable, man," guard Anthony Edwards said. "I don't see how they lose a game, honestly. I don't see how they lose."
Embiid exited to a standing ovation after going 17-for-25 from the field — he didn't hit a three on his way to 51 — while Tyrese Maxey had 15 of his 35 points in a fourth quarter that Philadelphia won 37-26. The normally strong defense failed the Wolves after they entered the fourth down 90-87. The decisive stretch came when Philadelphia increased its lead to 104-96 while Embiid rested the first 5 minutes, 39 seconds of the fourth. Then he reentered the game and finished off the Wolves.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 23 points and 13 rebounds while Edwards had 27 points. Rudy Gobert, who was in foul trouble most of the night, had eight points and nine rebounds in 24 minutes. His absence on defense was noticeable for the Wolves, and he said officials set the tone for the night by calling two questionable fouls on him only 3:29 into the game.
"It makes it even harder for me when the officials call some fouls like they call the first two fouls and that puts me in foul trouble," Gobert said. "Then it's even harder to guard him. I wish they would let us — call the game more fairly. So I can really at least try to be me and try to make him work even harder."
Gobert also expressed some frustration with how he has been officiated early in recent road games, like a loss at New Orleans on Dec. 11 and a win at Dallas last Thursday. He said he has been on the receiving end of a lot of uncalled contact on offense while getting called for quick fouls while defending.
"It doesn't seem natural, especially with the things I was able to accomplish in my career, me coming in the game and getting two quick fouls like that, with everything that they do to me on the other end, it's weird. It's really weird," Gobert said. "There's some things that, I guess, we'll never know, never understand, and I don't want to focus on that. I don't want to put my attention on that, but it's really affecting our team when I have to sit two minutes, three minutes into the game.
"Coming back with two fouls and try to be me, but it's hard to be you when you got three guys waiting to take you out of the game as soon as they can."
Gobert might be hearing from the league office about a fine after his comments while Wolves coach Chris Finch and Edwards will write out a check after receiving technicals. At one point in the second quarter, Finch shouted at one official, "Stop protecting him," referring to Embiid, who was standing nearby.
The Wolves knew coming into the night that the officiating crew for Wednesday's game had a high rate of calling fouls, so they knew to expect a tightly whistled contest. Despite the Wolves' griping, the referees called more fouls on Philadelphia than Minnesota (25-22), though Philadelphia went to line 32 times to the Wolves' 24. But from the field, Philadelphia shot 61% in the fourth quarter, 57% for the second half.
"Listen, it's tough when someone goes to the line 18 times and makes 17 of them, that's a highly efficient offense. It's tough to overcome that," Finch said. "And they shot 53 percent, but certainly Rudy exiting the game in the first four minutes hurt us."
The Wolves have tried to be more mature and complain less about officiating this season. It's one factor in the success they have to start the season. They couldn't help themselves Wednesday.
"I don't enjoy talking about the officials," Gobert said. "But you have to talk about it because it impacts the game."
Despite so-so record, Wolves have improved at crunch time.
