The Philadelphia 76ers (10-5) faced the Minnesota Timberwolves (11-3) as Joel Embiid missed his first game of the season. The Sixers once again stumbled out of the gates but eventually pulled it together and gave the Western Conference's top squad a good fight in a losing effort. The final score: 112-99.

Let's break down the Sixers' loss to the Timberwolves.

Sixers player notes: 

Tyrese Maxey: 16 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists, 7-19 FG shooting

A big part of Maxey's impressive start to the season was how good the Sixers were without Embiid off the floor. His dynamic style of play has uplifted Philly with the superstar big man resting. But now he was taking on an elite team without his co-star for the whole game.

Maxey could have stood to be more aggressive but he wasn’t as badly disengaged as other stints. He used high screens to cut into Minnesota's tough defense and leveraged his scoring to get teammates good shots. The shots didn’t fall in his favor, as he couldn’t get a single triple to go in five tries.

Paul Reed: 10 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist, 4 blocks, 2 steals, 5-9 FG shooting

Bball Paul can’t control if he starts when Embiid is out but what he can control is how he responds. Tonight, he made Nurse look like a fool for not going to him as the starting center. His hustle was apparent and he got Maxey going in the pick-and-roll. He got into foul trouble, of course, but he still turned in a very strong performance.

De’Anthony Melton: 16 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 3-11 FG shooting

One expert foul drawer sits and another one steps up in his place — though it isn’t the one anyone thought it would be. Melton shot poorly from the field but got to the line a bunch and made all nine of his freebies.

Timberwolves player notes:

Anthony Edwards: 31 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 11-21 FG shooting

One of the best young stars in the NBA, Edwards not only created easy looks for himself but looked perfectly fine making some tough shots off the dribble. His defense was hit-or-miss in this game — he stayed in front of whoever he needed whenever he needed to but wasn’t totally locked in on every possession — the steady flow of buckets he provided never relented. Neither did his nose for opportunities to make big plays.

Game recap:

1st half

Embiid was taken off the injury report prior to yesterday's game but with his left hip still experiencing soreness, the Sixers decided not to overwork him on the second night of a back-to-back after an overnight travel. The big man appearing in 14 straight games to start a season is the second-longest streak of his career, trailing only the 26 straight he played to open the 2018-19 campaign.

With this game being the Sixers' seventh in 11 days and coming against the team with the top record in the Western Conference, a loss was to be expected, even with stud defender Jaden McDaniels out. And then Nurse started Marcus Morris Sr. at center for Embiid — a fascinating, confusing decision, to put it lightly. The lineup with him and the other four starters in yesterday's game was pretty good, though the sample size was so small that it’s tough to draw any meaningful conclusions from it. Any hopes of a win disintegrated when it was announced that Morris would start.

Harris started out on Edwards while De'Anthony Melton guarded Mike Conley. Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who took McDaniels' spot in the starting five, guarded Maxey. Morris picked up two fouls in the first two minutes but Nurse left him in. Batum picked up two fouls early, too, leading to Paul Reed and Danuel House Jr. substitutions.

The Sixers offense could not have been more jumbled to start the game. Harris tried a lefty layup on Gobert, House had a possession where he iso'd on the left side and turned it over on a jump pass and Maxey was not in command of the unit at all.

Reed helped the Sixers get going by getting into the pick-and-roll with Maxey and asserting himself in the paint, blocking Edwards and fighting on the glass. Philly played much cleaner with an actual center in the game, though the Wolves are so deep that it didn’t matter. The Sixers had no answer for dribble penetration and couldn’t create a lick of their own when Maxey sat. They trailed by only 17 points after the opening quarter.

The Sixers didn’t back down, though, ripping off an 8-0 run full of hustle plays and good shot selection. They forced 11 misses on the Timberwolves' first 12 shots of the second quarter. Melton stuck a pair of fouls on Rudy Gobert with aggressive drives to the rim (and made all four of his foul shots) and Harris bodied his way into shots in the post.

Reed jeopardized his shot at more second-half playing time by ending the half with three fouls. Still, his efforts helped the Sixers play one of their most inspired quarters of the season after one of their worst. They trailed 57-49 at the break.

2nd half

Morris drained a triple over Gobert's outstretched arm to start the half out of a pick-and-pop with Maxey. The Timberwolves went right at Morris and the Sixers' undersized front line on offense and seemed comfortable to let Morris get shooting space. Morris made them pay by pump-faking and driving for an and-one. He went on to hit a three-ball and sink a 15-footer off of a cut to the middle, tallying 11 points to start the second half.

Edwards went flamethrower mode to keep the Wolves ahead, scoring 11 points himself in the first half of the third quarter. Morris had to sit after picking up his fourth foul. Reed picked up his own fourth foul soon after. Edwards' scoring rampage did not cease and his teammates from the bench pitched in to maintain a big lead. Former Sixer Shake Milton, Naz Reid and Kyle Anderson kept the pressure on as Minnesota went into the fourth quarter with a 12-point lead.

The Wolves' connectivity was super impressive. They played hard on both ends and made the Sixers pay for their mistakes often. They've got depth at every position, as shown by Alexander-Walker being plugged right in for McDaniels' spot and maintaining their stellar defense at the point of attack, and employ a lot of smart decision-makers. It not only shows their legitimacy as a title contender but also how hard the Sixers fought. For this was even somewhat of a game on a road SEGABABA without their best player was a big silver lining.

The Sixers ran out of ammo in the fourth quarter as the Wolves kept their feet on the gas. Karl-Anthony Towns torched Philly's defense (aside from one shot that Reed swatted away) and Minny turned its strong defense into fast breaks. With five and a half minutes left, the Sixers emptied their bench but the Wolves did not. The Spirit of Tom Thibodeau lives on in Minnesota, apparently.

Random rumblings:

The Sixers will have a few days off before resuming action on Saturday against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Happy Thanksgiving!