Wolves shake off sluggish start, use fourth-quarter surge to put away 76ers

The Minnesota Timberwolves saved their best for the final quarter.

The Wolves put an ugly 36 minutes behind them and used a fourth-quarter surge to put away the extremely short-handed Philadelphia 76ers in a 126-112 victory Tuesday night at Target Center in Minneapolis. It wasn't pretty for much of the game despite the 76ers missing Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey as well as a slew of other contributors out due to injuries.

Much of the game was mired in turnovers, missed shots and some ugly play from the Wolves (34-29). They started the game off with 11 turnovers in the first quarter and finished with 19 for the game. And despite taking a double-digit lead when the shots started falling in the second quarter, the Wolves let the 76ers (21-40) close the half on a 23-14 run. They only led by four at the break were only up going into the fourth thanks to a half-court buzzer beater from Mike Conley.

"Turnovers were the name of the game for us," Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. "... It's been a while since we had turnovers that high, and we can't go back to that type of basketball. But we found a good rhythm there in the fourth."

It was a complete change of the tide in the final quarter. Only one of the 19 turnovers came in the final 12 minutes, and it was a complete all-around effort. The five-man group of Mike Conley, Donte DiVincenzo, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid that started the fourth quarter kickstarted an 18-7 run to open the quarter and the rout was on.

Alexander-Walker and Reid in particular were the drivers of the fourth-quarter run. Each made a pair of 3-pointers early in the quarter as Minnesota built a double-digit lead. Reid scored eight of his team-high 23 points in the fourth quarter as he escaped his slump, shooting 9 for 18 from the field, including 5 of 10 from 3. Alexander-Walker had a brilliant all-around game and scored 13 of his 20 points in the final quarter on a night he also had three boards, three assists and two steals.

The Wolves outscored the 76ers 43-32 in the final frame.

"I remember going into the fourth, (Conley) had said, 'This is a group.' There's a point in time in the second quarter when we had gotten that lead to about 10 or 11, I believe, and that group was just really gelling," Alexander-Walker said. "Some nights you got groups that really work well, and (Tuesday) was one of those nights for us."

Seven players finished in double figures in all for Minnesota. Edwards, who briefly exited the game in the first quarter after appearing to injure his hand, had 18 points, all in the first half, five rebounds and an assist. Jaden McDaniels finished with 17 points, three rebounds and a pair of assists. DiVincenzo hit down four 3s to finish with 12 points and eight assists.

Conley's buzzer beater was the highlight of the night, though he lamented the turnover that preceded it, when he had an all-around excellent performance. He finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Julius Randle, in his second game back after a lengthy absence due to a groin injury, was solid too, with 16 points, eight boards and five assists.

Quentin Grimes was keeping the 76ers in it for a while, scoring a game-high 30 points on 12-for-18 shooting. Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 24 points. Paul George struggled mightily, finishing with just seven points on 3-for-11 shooting. Thought it wasn't all pretty, the Wolves got something from everyone and finished the game strong to take a convincing victory.

It's a quick turnaround for the Wolves, who visit the Charlotte Hornets for a 6 p.m. tipoff Wednesday night.

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