CAMDEN, N.J. — There is no denying the Philadelphia 76ers are one of the top teams in the NBA, but they will still need to overcome challenges.
The Sixers dropped a tough one to the Chicago Bulls on Monday, ending their six-game winning streak, but their attention turns to the Minnesota Timberwolves visit on Wednesday. The Wolves are in first place in the Western Conference and the best defensive team in the league.
Led by Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert, Minnesota presents a big step up for the Sixers, who have played seven straight games against opponents with sub-.500 records. The Timberwolves won the teams’ first game on Nov. 22 when Joel Embiid was out with an injury.
“I think we certainly need these tough games,” said coach Nick Nurse. “I always look forward to them just again to see exactly what we look like against some of the best teams in the league and see what — they present some problems. They’re a very good defensive team. A very good rim-protection team. We need to play maybe a certain way against them. Can we do it? All those kinds of things, I think are measuring sticks for playing a very good team.”
The Timberwolves rallied from a 17-point deficit on the road to beat the Miami Heat on Monday. Their defensive effort is fantastic and the Sixers have to be ready.
“The one thing I’ve noticed about them is not only have they kind of figured out at the end to get the W, they’re building, and throughout the course of the game, their defense seems to get tougher and tougher and really tough late,” Nurse added. “I watch their games and there’s a lot of game where they’re down eight or 10 or whatever and all of a sudden, they win by eight or 10 because their defense is just really stingy late in the game.”
The Heat scored 33 points in both the first and second quarters before the Timberwolves held them to 17 in the third and 25 in the fourth to complete the rally.
“They got a combination of tremendous size with the three bigs they play, but they also got tremendous athleticism and length on the wings and on the perimeter,” Nurse finished. “So it’ll be a great challenge for us for sure.”
Edwards is quickly becoming one of the best players in the league. He had 32 points against Miami; 22 came in the fourth quarter. He will offer a challenge for the Sixers.
“I think showing him a lot of bodies,” Patrick Beverley said of slowing down Edwards. “Obviously, he’s a handful to deal with, especially in transition. So we’ll try to limit our turnovers, make sure we’re taking the right shots so they can’t leak out on fast breaks, and just send bodies on him, put different bodies on him. Make it hard. Pick him up full court, make it tough. Live with some of the step-back 3s. You just don’t want him attacking your basket all night.”
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