76ers Vs Timberwolves — Maxey scores 39 as Sixers rout Wolves 135-108
In the 76ers vs timberwolves matchup on Sunday night, the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 135-108, handing Minnesota its largest loss of the season and giving Philadelphia its first win in over two weeks.
76ers Vs Timberwolves: Maxey, Edgecombe and Grimes combine
Tyrese Maxey led Philadelphia with 39 points and eight assists, finishing one of the game's top performances. Rookie VJ Edgecombe made a career-high six triples for 24 points, and Quentin Grimes added 19 points with five threes. By halftime the Sixers had four players in double figures — Maxey, Edgecombe, Grimes and Kelly Oubre Jr. — and they entered the second half with a 10-point lead before expanding that margin to more than 20 points in the second half.
How the game opened and Maxey’s arc
Maxey began with two quick turnovers in the first two minutes but recovered, scoring 11 of the Sixers’ last 17 points to close the first half and tie Anthony Edwards at 19 points at the break. He added 13 points in the third quarter, including an emphatic poster sequence on Edwards; the run of play also included a turnover and a bucket from Andre Drummond during the game’s momentum swings.
Wolves forced into unusual rotations without Gobert and Reid
Minnesota played at Target Center without Rudy Gobert, who was suspended for accruing too many flagrant fouls, and without Naz Reid because of shoulder soreness. The Wolves turned to Joan Beringer for his first career start to fill out the starting lineup, but Beringer ran into foul trouble early: he picked up two quick fouls just four minutes into the game and was sent to the bench for the remainder of the quarter. In the second quarter, after just a single minute on the court, the rookie bigman picked up his third foul and sat out the rest of the half.
Rotation experiments and Edwards’ numbers
With limited front-court options, Minnesota mixed combinations that included Mike Conley, Jaylen Clark and Terrence Shannor Jr., players who had been out of the rotation in the prior game, but none of the combinations stuck. Lineups that found any traction featured Anthony Edwards. Edwards finished with 28 points, nine rebounds and three assists but committed seven turnovers; Minnesota was outscored by 22 points in the 11 minutes Edwards was on the bench before garbage time, despite only losing Ant’s minutes by three points overall.
Defensive lapses, second-chance points and coach comments
The Wolves missed Gobert’s rim defense and struggled on closeouts, surrendering 17 second-chance points. Head coach Chris Finch said, "Just a lot of short close outs. We talked about the guys we needed to get up to take away their airspace, and then once they had seen enough go in, then they made tough ones, but just a lot of short close outs. We probably short-closed them out at least a half a dozen times, if not more, in the first half alone. " Edwards took responsibility for many of the lapses: "Most of them was me. A couple of them, they were three, four steps behind the line. I’m not thinking they even gonna shoot it. And they still shot it and they made it. That’s on me. I’ll take it. " On his turnovers after the game Edwards said, "Just unexpected coverages. Sometimes they would be in a drop, sometimes they would be in a high wall, and then when I go to pass it, they might hit the ball out of my hand. I lost the ball a couple times on the dribble. Just bad turnovers. "
Other individual notes and an unclear fragment
Julius Randle scored 18 points and finished with three rebounds and three assists; Finch mentioned Randle was "under the weather pretty severely, " despite Randle not showing up on the team’s injury report leading up to the game. Tyrese Maxey’s stat line was also listed as 39 points, 3 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals and 1 block in the game summary. While the Wolves desperately missed Gobert and Reid in this game, it’s hard to use that as a reason — unclear in the provided context.
Sixers Bell Ringer standings and what's next
2025-26 Sixers Bell Ringer standings: Tyrese Maxey – 20Joel Embiid – 9VJ Edgecombe – 8Paul George – 6Dominick Barlow – 2Andre Drummond – 2Jared McCain: ’( – 2Kelly Oubre Jr. – 2MarJon Beauchamp – 1Adem Bona – 1Justin Edwards – 1Quentin Grimes – 1Trendon Watford – 115th roster spot – 1
The Sixers get Monday off before continuing their road trip with a visit to the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday.
