Getty Joel Embiid battling Karl-Anthony Towns.
Some franchises like to crack jokes at the expense of their rivals during the NBA schedule release. The Minnesota Timberwolves seized the day and took unexpected aim at the Philadelphia 76ers.
The seventh-place finishers in the Western Conference posted a Twitter photo showing Kyle Anderson taming what appears to be a Philly underdog in front of the Rocky steps. Inset is a picture of a smiling Karl-Anthony Towns about to munch down on a cheesesteak. The Timberwolves captioned everything with “we’ll take ours wit wins” – an obvious pun on the proper way to order a cheesesteak at Pat’s or Geno’s.
It was kind of a clever way to spice up schedule release day. They also took jabs at the Utah Jazz, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Memphis Grizzlies, Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets, and Los Angeles Clippers. The inclusion of the Sixers seemed a bit odd on first glance – the two teams play in different conferences, only meet twice each season, and don’t own a storied rivalry. Then again, Towns has endured a fair share of epic beefs with Joel Embiid over the years.
The Timberwolves and Sixers split their season series last season. Minnesota took a double-overtime thriller 121-120 on the road; meanwhile, Philadelphia earned a 133-102 blowout win up there. Minnesota seemed to be rubbing their victory by posting another tweet, one mostly showing De’Angelo Russell dominate the Sixers, while teasing NBA Clutch Week. The latter was a trending hashtag the NBA was promoting from August 22-28.
oh… it’s #NBAClutchWeek?
we’ll leave this here.
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Embiid, Towns Squashed Their Beef
As mentioned above, Embiid and Towns have a tumultuous relationship dating back to 2019. They are often responsible for guarding each other in the paint, with those heated matchups featuring plenty of trash talk. And sometimes leading to a fight or ejection.
But the two big men squashed their beef when the Sixers and Timberwolves met in Philly last November. According to Towns, they talked the entire game and Embiid sent positive thoughts his way. Embiid told Towns he was genuinely glad to see him in good health after the Timberwolves star contracted COVID-19.
“Last time we played in Philly, I had a good conversation with Embiid,” Towns told Adin Ross. “I think that one of the great things about it was – it’s not great, I won’t say great – but like I meant what I said after. I never want anyone to deal with COVID. We had that one little moment.”
Here are some some details you may have missed around Joel Embiid and Karl Anthony Towns’ fight:
Towns had a rough go of it during the pandemic after losing his mother and seven total family members. Remember, Towns and Embiid knew each other in high school and were on very friendly terms.
“I just told him during the game, like whatever happens in this game and anything like, I just want you to make sure that you good, and you take care of your family,” Towns said of Embiid. “If you need me for anything, you got my number. The number ain’t change since we’ve been knowing each other. Hit me.”
Sixers vs. Wolves: Nov. 19, March 7
The Sixers and Timberwolves will meet twice this season. The first contest is slated for November 19 at Wells Fargo Center with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The second game comes on March 7 in Minnesota at 7:30 p.m. Philadelphia owns a 32-30 advantage in the all-time series, including nine wins out of the last 10 games in the series dating back to 2017.
The @sixers topple the Timberwolves, 133-102, in James Harden’s debut.
Harden, Embiid, and Maxey combined for 89 points.
The team shared 30 assists on 42 buckets.
The team shot 51.2% fg, 48.7% 3fg, 83.3% FT.
I mean… wow.
Minnesota could be a dominant team following an aggressive offseason. They added C.J. Elleby, Luka Garza, Bryn Forbes, and Kyle Anderson before making a blockbuster trade for Rudy Gobert. Consider them legit contenders in a wide-open Western Conference.