The Philadelphia 76ers (4 - 33) defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves (12 - 23) 109 - 99 on Monday night. In a game between two of the worst teams in the NBA, the two teams played surprisingly efficient. Both teams shot over 53 percent from the field and got all - around great team efforts. Both benches were huge tonight, as Philly's reserves scored 61 points while Minnesota's bench players scored 55 of their own. In fact, four of the top six scorers in this game came from their respective benches. Philly has been known to fold late in games, but they won the fourth quarter by nine points to overcome a second half deficit and run away with the win. These are two teams at the bottom of the totem pole right now, but they both have bright futures and showed some promise here. The Timberwolves came into this game with a better record on the road than at home, but they couldn’t pull off a road win against the worst team in the NBA. The strange part about this game was the minutes distribution, as Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns played just 49 minutes combined. As mentioned before, the bench was the only bright spot for the Wolves. Shabazz Muhammad led the team with 20 points and Gorgui Dieng tallied 14 points, eight rebounds, two steals and two blocks off the bench. It's just too difficult for this team to compete unless Towns and Wiggins gets the 30 - plus minutes they deserve. Minnesota will look to play better on Wednesday when they host the struggling Denver Nuggets. This Philadelphia team is simply a different team since the acquisition of Ish Smith. They are now 3 - 4 since trading for him and he's had a huge impact in every win. Smith was spectacular here, as he tallied 21 points, 11 assists, four rebounds and three steals. The big surprise in this game was the bench play, as Carl Landry and Richaun Holmes combined for an impressive 33 points in 40 minutes of play. There's not much to smile about as a Sixers fan these days, but the recent play has to be encouraging and at worst draw a smirk. They'll look to continue their recent success on Thursday against the Atlanta Hawks.
["TeamStat(G,'76ers') has 33 Losses ,has 109 Total points ,has 4 Wins ."
 "TeamStat(G,'Timberwolves') has 23 Losses ,has 99 Total points ,has 12 Wins ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Gorgui Dieng') has 2 Assists ,has 14 Blocks ,has 8 Points ,has 2 Total rebounds ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Shabazz Muhammad') has 20 Assists ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Ish Smith') has 11 Assists ,has 21 Blocks ,has 4 Points ,has 3 Total rebounds ."]