The Philadelphia 76ers faced the Minnesota Timberwolves in their third game of the Las Vegas Summer League. Against first-round rookie guards Rob Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Jr., the Sixers won 92-90.

The Summer Sixers have been in a major playing-time crunch after three straight days with games in Utah and then having three in four days in Las Vegas. Other teams have to go through similar grinds too but still, it’s a lot. Coming off a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, Philly faced an undefeated Minnesota squad led by Shannon, a very old prospect and one of the highest scorers of the Las Vegas Summer League.

The Wolves made a late run, threatening to snatch the lead in the final minutes after trailing by as much as 16 early in the fourth quarter. Jeff Dowtin Jr. scored some crucial clutch buckets, Judah Mintz locked up Dillingham on one of Minny's last possessions and Philly held on for the win.

Here are three takeaways from the 76ers' matchup with the Timberwolves.

The niche skill McCain and Council tap into here and there

Jared McCain and Ricky Council IV are both quite different as players — obviously — but they both have flashed the ability to throw accurate, swift one-handed passes.

Neither players are otherworldly playmakers, though they each can make the right pass after drawing over the defense. Throwing crisp passes when the defense doesn’t expect can stress it out further, making it wary of even slight openings. Throughout the Summer League, both of them have made some strong passes.

Council notched a hockey assist by whipping a pass with his right hand in transition. His speed and athletic burst make him unavoidable for defenders, so snapping a pass to someone filling the lane makes for an even tougher transition attack to stop.

McCain has thrown a few nice passes with a single hand over the course of Philly’s Summer League games, with the most rewarding one being an off-hand lob to Adem Bona. This game featured some nice dishes, too. He assisted Dowtin on a breakaway slam with a right-handed push pass. He whipped a left-handed pass to Aluma on the short roll, who then dumped it off to Bona for a dunk.

These types of passes are incredibly risky, as they can go haywire easily. But they can also go a long way and add some flair. If used more purposely than just making a highlight play, which the 76ers' youngsters do, it can actually be quite useful. Justin Edwards also used one to assist Aluma on the break.

Adem Bona is everywhere

It really is amazing to see how much ground Bona can cover and how he is already such a staunch rim protector. More apparent than his need to tidy up on fouling is the fact that he’s such a tough, big dude down there who can sky for a block like he’s wearing a jetpack.

Bona blocked eight shots through his first two games, tied for the lead with Donovan Clingan among others. Tonight wasn’t a huge night in that stat column for him (he had just one) but he was nonetheless tough to score on. In the first half, he perfectly stopped a four-on-one fast break, giving Jaylen Clark enough room to try a layup before smothering it. Bona's former UCLA teammate said he wanted to posterize Bona but he wasn’t able to get anything on that attempt.

The Summer Sixers didn’t do a great job of getting the rebounds from Bona's misses but he forced a lot of them, doing the job that a center has to do while grabbing nine boards. Bona himself is doing a better job jumping with body control, avoiding scary falls.

The Council of Free Throws

Council was already really good at getting to the foul line last season in his sparse minutes as a rookie. It’s tough to gauge from Sumemr League if he'll certainly get better as a sophomore but it feels like he surely isn’t getting worse.

After shooting 14 free throws against the Blazers (and making nine of them), Council shot 7-8 from the charity stripe in this one. There’s hardly any stopping him from getting into the paint. His determination can often lead to bad decisions but it can also lead to chances at free points.

This entire game had just as much ref whistling as it did actual hoops. There was some chippy play on both ends and plenty of shooting fouls for players on both sides. The Wolves made it a mission to shrink the floor and swipe for steals, which resulted in an abundance of takeaways and fouls. It was made for a player like Council to just throw himself into the madness and take what it gave.

Mintz is like a diet Council in this regard. He also does everything he can to get into the paint and shot 7-8 from the foul line in this game. Even McCain shot nine free throws, making them all. Minny's Daishen Nix, meanwhile, went 13-15 from the charity stripe.

The Summer Sixers' next game is on Friday against the San Antonio Spurs on Friday at 8:30 P.M. EST.