PHILADELPHIA -- All season long, the Philadelphia 76ers have had problems closing out games.

That was not the case on Tuesday night, however.

Robert Covington scored on a lob from Dario Saric with 0.2 of a second left as the Sixers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 93-91.

"That's the way we drew it up," Covington said. "That's how we did it yesterday in practice, the same exact way. We executed to perfection."

The Sixers improved to 4-8 in games decided by six points or fewer with their second straight victory, both by two. They also defeated Denver 124-122 last Friday.

They saw the Timberwolves erase a 26-point third-quarter deficit, forging a 91-all tie on Ricky Rubio's 3-pointer with 1.6 seconds left.

Covington then rubbed Andrew Wiggins off Joel Embiid's screen near the foul line, curled to the basket, took the long sideline inbounds pass from Saric near the rim and dropped the ball in.

"Joel set a great screen, Dario delivered the pass and I was able to execute," Covington said.

The Timberwolves, meanwhile, were not.

"You know it's something toward the basket," coach Tom Thibodeau said. "You want the ball to go away from the basket. Obviously, that didn't happen."

Nor did Minnesota's mistakes end there, according to Thibodeau. They continued after Covington broke into the clear and headed toward the rim.

"The weakside (helper) has to read the ball," Thibodeau said. "We needed some help on the curl, and we didn't get that."

Covington, 4-for-14 from the floor while generating 13 points and 10 rebounds, was booed every time he missed a 3-point attempt, as has often been the case this season. He began the night shooting 28.7 percent from the arc, and missed eight of nine tries.

"It goes in one ear and out the other," he said. "I just keep playing. I never let other people's comments or anything get to me."

Embiid scored 25 points and Ersan Ilyasova added 19 for Philadelphia.

Zach LaVine scored 28 points and Karl-Anthony Towns collected 23 points, 15 rebounds and five assists for Minnesota, which recorded a 24-point home win over the Sixers on Nov. 17.

Wiggins, who began the night averaging a team-high 22 points a game, managed eight on 2-for-15 shooting. Covington was the primary defender.

"Robert takes some hits out there," coach Brett Brown said, "but I wish everybody would see what we see defensively."

The Sixers breezed to a 19-point lead late in the second quarter and were up 57-42 at the break. Embiid provided 16 points in the half, and Philadelphia limited Minnesota to 37.8-percent shooting.

LaVine scored 11 in the half to pace the T-wolves.

Philadelphia then notched the first 11 points of the second half, six by Ilyasova on a pair of 3-pointers and five by Embiid, to go up 68-42.

With the Sixers' lead still 26 moments later, the T-wolves rattled off 15 straight points, 12 by LaVine, to cut the gap to 70-59.

Philadelphia's lead was still 11 at the end of the quarter, 79-68. It grew to 82-68 early in the fourth, and the Sixers were still up 89-82 after Embiid's free throw with 2:52 to play.

Minnesota scored the game's next six points to close within one. After a layup by Sixers guard T.J. McConnell with 41.5 seconds left put Philadelphia ahead 91-88, Rubio hit his 3-pointer from the right wing to knot the score.

"We have had collapses," Brown said. "People don't understand how hard it is to close out a game with a bunch of 20-year-olds. ... We're figuring it all out. We're not there yet."

NOTES: Philadelphia C Joel Embiid was named Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for games played in December, the second straight month he received that honor. Embiid averaged 20 points and seven rebounds while playing 27.3 minutes a game in 10 appearances. ... The Sixers were without F Richaun Holmes (concussion) for the fifth straight game, while G Gerald Henderson (hip) missed his third consecutive contest and G Sergio Rodriguez (ankle) his second in a row. Holmes and Rodriguez both said they hope to be available for Friday's game in Boston. ... Minnesota C Karl-Anthony Towns entered the game shooting 23.2 percent on 3-pointers in his previous 19 games, and 31.8 percent overall. "I don't want him to settle all the time for the 3," coach Tom Thibodeau said. "I think it's important to have a balance, and that's usually when he's at his best." Towns missed five of six from the arc in the game.