Joel Embiid drops 51 points to power Sixers past West-leading Minnesota Timberwolves

Joel Embiid misfired on his chance to reach 50 points at the free-throw line.

But a well-timed Paul Reed rebound, and a well-situated jumper by Embiid, pushed the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player past that threshold.

In a marquee game featuring three of the NBA’s premier frontcourt players, Embiid continued his dominant streak with a season-high 51 points and 12 rebounds to propel the Sixers to a 127-113 victory Wednesday night against a a Minnesota Timberwolves team that arrived at the Wells Fargo Center with the Western Conference’s best record.

“I missed it on purpose,” Embiid joked following the game. “I guess the lights were too bright. Too much pressure on it, to get the 50-piece … P. Reed made a great play, obviously, and I decided to stat pad and to get the 50.”

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It was a far different outcome than the first meeting between these two teams less than a month ago, a 112-99 Minnesota victory when Embiid did not play due to injury. Wednesday night, Embiid made 17 of his 25 field-goal attempts and went 17-of-18 from the free-throw line, the only miss coming on the attempt that could have given him the round 50-piece for the 19-8 Sixers.

It was also Embiid’s third consecutive game with at least 40 points, his fifth in a row with at least 35, his 13th straight with at least 30, and the 12th in a row amassing 30 points and 10 rebounds. That last streak is the longest since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1972, and the only other players to accomplish that feat are Elgin Baylor, Walt Bellamy, and Wilt Chamberlain.

Embiid reached the 30-point benchmark Wednesday by scoring through and around those opposing big men — Defensive Player of the Year contender Rudy Gobert, All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns and impressive reserve Naz Reid — in succession in the third quarter, which ignited the Sixers’ charge to pull away.

He hit a jumper through Gobert’s contact, then converted an and-1 finish against Towns, then spun and finished around Reid to cut the Timberwolves’ lead to 83-82 with less than three minutes to play. Embiid then went nuclear on Reid in the quarter’s final minute, with a thunderous one-handed dunk through contact before hitting the and-1 free throw to give the Sixers a 90-87 advantage as “M-V-P!” chants rang through the arena.

Gobert, meanwhile, was limited in the first half because of three fouls and then finished with eight points and nine rebounds. Towns totaled 23 points — including 12 on 4-of-4 shooting in the second quarter — and 13 rebounds. Star wing Anthony Edwards added 27 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the Timberwolves (20-6).

Tyrese Maxey added 35 points — including 15 in the final period to help extend the Sixers’ lead to as many as 16 — and five assists. Those were needed on a night when the Sixers played with a shorthanded roster, as starting forward Nicolas Batum (hamstring) and reserve wing Robert Covington (illness) was out, before starting guard De’Anthony Melton departed late in the first half with a thigh bruise and did not return.

It initially appeared to be a defensive slugfest between two of the NBA’s top-5 units in efficiency, when the Sixers and Timberwolves both shot below 40% from the floor in the opening quarter. But those numbers swung the opposite direction in the second period. Maxey dropped 17 points to help the Sixers build a 10-point lead, but the Timberwolves countered by making 12 of their 17 attempts (including 5-of-6 from beyond the arc) to trim the gap to 64-60 at the break.

The Sixers will next host the Toronto Raptors on Friday night (7 p.m, NBCSP), before beginning a four-game road trip that begins at the Miami Heat on Christmas.

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