Towns Reminds Embiid Who's Top Dog As Wolves Rout 76ers 110-86

Tom Bogert, CBS Local Sports

On the court, Joel Embiid and Karl-Anthony Towns are similarly preternaturally talented young big men. It's simply unfair how agile these gargantuan humans (allegedly) are and how indefatigable their comfortability is irrespective of how they venture from the basket.

Off the court, they're rather different. Embiid has become a darling of the league, sharing humor with fans in the form of #TrustTheProcess jokes, ambitiously sending love to A-list female celebrities as well as embracing the love he's now getting for his fun personality.

Towns is more soft spoken and certainly much less worthy of a follow on twitter. Is this braille?

When Embiid's Philadelphia 76ers traveled to Minnesota to play Town's Timberwolves, eyes were on the opposing big men for much of the game. It felt like the more important storyline to follow, even moreso than the final score.

Towns, in the most Karl-Anthony Towns way possible, reminded the league that Embiid still has ways to go before he catches his ascension. He didn't need to talk, nor have twitter to accentuate attention, he just went out and balled. Before you knew it, he filled up the box score.

The Timberwolves handily beat the 76ers 110-86. Embiid had a quiet double-double of the most frugal variety with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Meanwhile, Towns had 25 points and 10 boards on 12-18 shooting, with a game high plus/minus of +33.

Oh, and he also absolutely eviscerated Embiid one on one.

In the interim, everything that was supposed to happen happened: the upstart Timberwolves easily handled a porous 76ers team that was traveling on the second night of a back-to-back. A second year player and reigning Rookie of the Year, commanded his matchup with a rookie.

But it felt like something more, because it was.

NBA GM's made it clear this summer that if they could pick any player to start their franchise with right now, it'd be Towns. But it's possible that could've been blurred a bit in recent times with all of the exaggerated hype on Embiid, in jest or not. Towns has gone about his business quietly and seemed to relish the matchup against Embiid.

On that dunk in which he emasculates Embiid, he looked to really want that isolation then brushed passed him with ruthless panache. It was bigger than two points in a 24-point blowout.

Delving a little deeper, the 76ers are the even younger version of the Timberwolves. Minnesota has the league's most exciting young core with Towns, Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine and Kris Dunn. This season, they're in the #process of taking the step from definite lottery team to pushing for the playoffs.

The 76ers are (still) probably multiple years away from that, but the pieces are there. Whenever Ben Simmons returns and resumes developing, they'll have a sumptuous rising core with Embiid, Simmons, Dario Saric and whichever of Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel they hang onto. Plus, they're destined for the lottery yet again this June and could accrue yet another young asset.

But the fortunes of these two nascent rosters wasn't going to be made or broken Thursday night. It was a game Minnesota had to have if they're to be taken seriously this season, and they had it. Towns didn't need to outperform Embiid on that singular night, but it sure was fun to see him stepping up to a potential challenge.

Say hey, when's the heavyweight bout with Kristaps Porzingis?