PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers dropped their 11th straight game on Saturday when they fell to the Minnesota Timberwolves 114-109. The Sixers gave the Timberwolves all they could handle, but Minnesota superstar Anthony Edwards was too much to handle in the end.
Here are the biggest takeaways from the loss:
Grimes’ 4th quarter takeover
Sure, Edwards stole the show and he was phenomenal for Minnesota, but Grimes had himself a night in the fourth. He scored 17 of his 28 points in the final quarter and knocked down five triples on six attempts in the fourth. It was a stark difference from the first half when he scored only two points on 0-for-2 shooting. When considering the pieces sitting on the sidelines, there was no way the Sixers were going to have a chance to win this game unless Grimes awoke and he knew that. It led to a big second half for him as Philadelphia put on a strong effort.
«I just knew I had to come out in the second half and be more aggressive,» Grimes explained. «In the first half, they were loading up pretty heavy on my drives, and I was trying to make the right play. Had a couple of boneheaded turnovers so I was just trying to be, in the second half, come out with the mindset to be in attack mode, try to do whatever I can to help the team win at that point.»
Edwards downs the Sixers
As mentioned, Edwards was terrific for the Timberwolves. This is a game Minnesota had to have as it continues its fight out of the play-in tournament and try to clinch one of the six guaranteed playoff spots in the Western Conference. The Wolves are locked in a battle with the Clippers and the Grizzlies to get into the playoffs so they couldn’t afford to lose this game. Despite the Sixers continuing to battle, they don’t have a closer. Edwards is that guy for Minnesota and he showed it on Saturday.
Yabusele said of Edwards:
I mean, this is the best league in the world, you know? So you gonna play against some of the best players in the world, too, you know? And some of them are really trained to be able in those situations and then just keep on going. We tried different things with him the whole night. Like he was just making shots. That’s what he is as a player. So, we’re just trying to bother him as much as possible to a point to make it really close. We give ourselves to try to win the game, but he hits a big shot against two players. There was one second left and, you know, it happened. This is basketball, this is the best sport in the world for me and this is the best league.
Lessons to learn for Bona
Bona got taught a lesson from Wolves big men Rudy Gobert, Naz Reid, and Julius Randle. While Bona has had some strong performances as of late, he got put in a blender by Minnesota’s hulking bigs. Gobert had 23 points, 19 rebounds, and three blocks while Reid had nine, seven rebounds, and two blocks, and Randle had 15. Bona had 10 rebounds, but he had five fouls as he had trouble against the talented and experienced big men of Minnesota. The Wolves won the rebounding battle 47-34 on the night.
Afterward, coach Nick Nurse stated:
I think a couple things. Let’s start with the other guys first, but the other guys aren’t going in there and just serving up blocked shots after blocked shots. I think they’re learning. We obviously talk about that in the game. Like, once you meet them and they’re going to be there, you can’t really do much with them at the rim, so you got to make the next play out however we’re going to do that. That’s the first thing and the other thing is, mostly it comes down to rebounding, right? And it’s not just the sheer size of it. It’s what those guys, not only are they big, but they’re also good at just before the shot, is taking their dislodging and pushing and throwing you underneath, and once it’s time to turn and block out, they’ve already started on you, right? So that’s the kind of kind of little bit of the experience or gamesmanship you got to learn to to be ready to anticipate that just maybe a count before the shots taken, rather than waiting till one goes up to get into the fight with that rebounding, right? I thought that happened to us quite a bit tonight. Almost pushed out of bounds and they’d be standing a clean put back, right?
