Adrian Fedkiw
Although they wouldn’t admit it, the Philadelphia 76ers sat Joel Embiid on the front end of a back-to-back Wednesday night so he could be good to go on national television Thursday and square off against Karl-Anthony Towns.
This didn’t sit well with season-ticket holders and the way Philadelphia played Thursday, it might as well have played him Wednesday.
Embiid had 10 points and 10 rebounds and the Sixers were blown out by the Minnesota Timberwolves 110-86 at Target Center.
It was ugly.
Embiid finished 4-of-9 from the floor and was matched up 1-on-1 against Gorgui Dieng a lot more than Towns, who had 25 points and 10 boards. Here were Embiid’s highlights.
Embiid finishes with 10 points on 4/9 shooting to go with 10 reb as Sixers get blown out on national TV 110-86. Here are Embiid's highlights pic.twitter.com/XnWmSg2QD7
— Philly Influencer (@PHL_Influencer) November 18, 2016
Dario Saric led the Sixers with 16 points. Philadelphia fell to 2-9 on the season.
If you want to see how bad the effort was at times Thursday, check out Zach LaVine fly down the lane unabated on a foul shot and throw down this dunk.
Can't let this happen on a foul shot @AdrianFedkiw pic.twitter.com/bkRbbQ9hD3
— Philly Influencer (@PHL_Influencer) November 18, 2016
Awful.
Andrew Wiggins led all scorers with 35 points on 14-of-20 efficiency in his first game playing against Embiid since being teammates for one season at Kansas in 2013-14. Wiggins went No. 1 overall in the 2014 NBA Draft and Embiid was selected third by the Sixers.
Wiggins’ triple right before the half gave the Wolves a 28-point lead at halftime and they cruised to the easy win from there.
Wiggins' 3 right before the half gives the Wolves a 28-point lead at the break, sheesh! Sixers getting spanked on national tv @AdrianFedkiw pic.twitter.com/byNmP0EsWt
— Philly Influencer (@PHL_Influencer) November 18, 2016