Minnesota Timberwolves – Philadelphia 76ers · NBA

Win probability changed during the game. · 3 January 2017

MIN91–93PHI

Is it worth watching?

There is no sufficient win-probability curve for this game, so it cannot be rated

It measures how much the win probability moved during the game —without looking at who won or at the score— and compares it with the 10,950 NBA games with a curve since 2017. “Highly recommended” is the most intense 20%, “recommended” runs from 50% to 80%, and “skippable” is the rest. Source: ESPN.

Home team's win probability across the game (source: ESPN). The band rises when PHI leads and falls when MIN does.

This is how the game was decided.

Joel Embiid decided it, the Philadelphia 76ers player with the most points (25, with 8 rebounds and 3 assists; +11 with him on the floor); the winner's best plus-minus was Nik Stauskas's (+20). The criterion: the winner's points in the box score; plus-minus says who was on the floor when the game opened up.

The game-winner in Philadelphia 76ers 93-91 Minnesota Timberwolves (January 3, 2017) was hit by Robert Covington: a dunk with 0.0 s left in the fourth quarter, putting the Philadelphia 76ers up 93-91. They never trailed again.

The biggest run of Philadelphia 76ers 93-91 Minnesota Timberwolves (January 3, 2017) was a 15-0 run by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the third quarter (from 8:19 to 4:58), from 44-70 to 59-70. The Philadelphia 76ers' best was a 11-0 run in the third quarter (from 11:22 to 9:48), from 57-42 to 68-42.

▸See where these figures come from

Play: Robert Covington makes two point shot (Dario Saric assists).

I count as the game-winner the basket that puts the winning team ahead for good. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

A run here is consecutive points by one team without the opponent scoring. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

Source: the game's official box score and play-by-play.

Robert Covington decided this game: his points put his team ahead at the buzzer of the fourth quarter, and the opponent never led again.

It is the only game he has decided this way in the NBA since the 2002-03 season.

His profile shows the games Covington decided

▸See where these figures come from

A game is decided by the last basket that puts a team ahead in the final ten seconds of the fourth quarter or of an overtime, if that team wins.

3 January 2017 · The source is the ESPN play-by-play, play espn:400899421:550; the date is the one on the NBA box score.

Who stood out on defense during the season

These figures cover the whole 2016-17 regular season, not this game.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Ricky Rubio deflected 3.8 passes per game over his 75 games.
He ranks 4 of 371 in the league.
Karl-Anthony Towns contested 13.3 shots per game over his 82 games.
He ranks 7 of 371 in the league.
Gorgui Dieng contested 13.3 shots per game over his 82 games.
He ranks 8 of 371 in the league.

Philadelphia 76ers

Robert Covington deflected 4.2 passes per game over his 67 games.
He ranks 1 of 371 in the league.
Joel Embiid defended 6.4 shots at the rim per game over his 31 games, and opponents made 18 fewer out of every 100 than usual.
He ranks 1 of 61 in the league.
Ersan Ilyasova drew 0.44 charges per game over his 82 games.
He ranks 1 of 371 in the league.

Hustle figures come from the hustle stats the NBA publishes (NBA.com) and rim defense comes from its tracking; both cover the regular season. For each player in this game we show the figure that ranks him highest in the league, and for each team, the three best ranked. Ranks count players with at least 30 games and, at the rim, at least 4 defended shots per game.

The Philadelphia 76ers have won 29 of their 56 games against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

29-27record of the Philadelphia 76ers · NBA 1996-97 – 2025-26, regular season and playoffs

2-0in 2025-26

See the full head-to-head in the Analyst

See where it comes from

Official NBA box scores, regular season and playoffs, 1996-97 – 2025-26. It counts every game between the two teams that the house holds, this one included.

SportiveWorld knows much more about this game

Game context

Attendance

17.124

85.6% of capacity

Xfinity Mobile Arena · Philadelphia

Scoring

184

combined points

27.2 below the season average (211.2)