Thaddeus Young led a balanced attack with 18 points off the bench as the Philadelphia 76ers avoided a letdown with a 107-87 victory over the host Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday.
Jodie Meeks scored 16 points and Andre Iguodala had 15 and seven assists for the 76ers, who were coming off their best win of the season over the NBA-leading San Antonio Spurs on Friday.
Seven players, including all five starters, finished in double figures as Philadelphia concluded a stretch of three games in four days with a 2-1 mark. The 76ers improved to 22-15 since starting the season with a 3-13 record.
Kevin Love had 16 points and 13 rebounds for his 40th consecutive double-double for the Timberwolves, who had won eight of the last nine games here in the series.
Philadelphia, which was held without a 3-pointer in the first half, drained four in the third to push a four-point halftime lead to 85-74. A layup and jumper by Young extended the lead to 98-80 with 5:48 to play.
Philadelphia, which was second in the league with 39.3 bench points per game, got 42 points off the bench in this one. Besides Young, Louis Williams scored 13 points with five assists to pace the reserves while Evan Turner added nine points, eight rebounds and four assists.
Philadelphia | Minnesota | |
Thaddeus Young 18 | Scoring | Kevin Love 16 |
Andre Iguodala 7 | Assists | Luke Ridnour 5 |
Elton Brand 9 | Rebounds | Kevin Love 13 |
Andre Iguodala 8 | Free Throws Made | Corey Brewer 5 |
Jrue Holiday 3 | Steals | Corey Brewer 3 |
Elton Brand 1 | Blocks | Nikola Pekovic 3 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Philadelphia | 107 | 51.3 | 5-12 | 22-26 | 24 | 40 | 3 | 10 | 9 |
Minnesota | 87 | 36.4 | 4-23 | 19-22 | 15 | 45 | 3 | 5 | 15 |