PHILADELPHIA _ Joel Embiid said Tuesday night would be "payback time."
The 76ers center couldn't stop thinking about avenging the nationally televised blowout loss to Minnesota Timberwolves since it happened on Nov. 17. And he turned out to be a man of his word thanks to Robert Covington.
After Ricky Rubio knotted the score at 91, the Sixers called a timeout with 1.6 seconds left. Sixers coach Brett Brown designed a play for Covington to streak toward the basket. The small forward got the separation he needed after Embiid used a back screen on Andrew Wiggins. Covington then scored an alley-oop layup on an inbounds pass from Dario Saric with 0.2 seconds left.
That enabled the Sixers to escape with a 93-91 victory at the Wells Fargo Center 47 days after being humiliated by the Timberwolves in Minnesota.
Covington finished with 13 points on just 4-for-14 shooting. He also had 10 rebounds, four steals, two assists, one block and two turnovers. He held Wiggins to eight points on 2-for-15 shooting.
Embiid scored 16 of his team-high 25 points in the first half. He added eight rebounds, two blocks and three turnovers. His efforts enabled the Sixers (9-24) to win their second consecutive game. The Timberwolves (11-24) have lost two straight and five of their last seven games.
The Sixers went to their traditional starting lineup that featured Embiid at center and Ersan Ilyasova at power forward for the second straight game. Before that, they featured Embiid and Jahlil Okafor in a twin towers frontcourt for six consecutive games.
But on this night, Okafor was the third-string center behind Embiid and Nerlens Noel. Noel played well but was on the court for only 11 minutes, 16 seconds.
The 6-foot-11, 232-pounder scored all of his eight points on 4-for-5 shooting during a 4-minute, 45-second stretch in the first quarter. Three of his baskets came on dunks, with two coming on alley-oop passes from point guard T.J. McConnell.
Noel was also paired with Embiid for 3:15 in the second quarter. The two played well together and even graded out at a plus-one. However, Noel did not see any action in the third quarter.
With a 70-49 lead with 7:59 left in the quarter, Embiid was replaced by Okafor. The Timberwolves responded with a 14-3 run to close the gap 10 points with 3:11 left in the quarter.
Minnesota closed pulled within four points (84-80) on a Karl-Anthony Towns layup with 5:45 left.
But the Sixers extended their lead to eight points on Saric's two foul shots and a basket by Embiid.
But Nemanja Bjelica hit a pair of foul shots with 1:02 remaining to pull the Timberwolves within 89-88. McConnell's layup with 41.5 seconds left gave the Sixers a three-point advantage.
The Timberwolves had a chance to knot the score after Towns blocked Embiid's layup with 7.9 seconds left. With the ball, Minnesota called a timeout with 6.5 ticks remaining. Rubio drained a wide-open 3-pointer on an assist from Towns with 1.6 seconds left.
That set up Covington's game winner.
The Sixers were without point guard Sergio Rodriguez, shooting guard Gerald Henderson and reserve center Richaun Holmes.
Rodriguez suffered a sprained left ankle during Thursday's loss to the Jazz in Utah. He missed Friday's victory over the Nuggets in Denver. He was unable to go during Monday's practice.
Holmes missed his fifth straight game since suffering a concussion on Dec. 22. He was elbowed in the back of the head. Henderson exited the fourth quarter of the Dec. 26 loss to the Kings in Sacramento with left-hip pain. He missed the Jazz and Nuggets games.
Rodriguez and Holmes expect to Friday against the Celtics in Boston.
