PHILADELPHIA – On Friday morning, the expectation was that the Sixers would be playing host to the Minnesota Timberwolves at night without Joel Embiid available. On Friday night, Embiid and his teammates celebrated a significant victory against one of the Western Conference's better teams.

Early on, neither team could find any semblance of an offensive rhythm, but Minnesota did a bit more to establish an early lead. But behind Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George – plus a successful gambit from head coach Nick Nurse – the Sixers turned the game on its head in the third quarter. They did so in front of a raucous crowd that commended its team's efforts.

The Sixers' energy was unrelenting on Friday night, even if their execution came and went throughout the game. But in the second half, they nearly pitched a perfect game. They did a terrific job defending superstar guard Anthony Edwards and did not allow anybody else to beat them. Meanwhile, the Sixers ended up with an impressive blend of contributions from stars and role players. It all coalesced into an impressive 115-103 victory, punctuated by a fourth quarter in which the Sixers refused to take their feet off the gas. Kelly Oubre Jr., in possibly his best game since returning from an elbow injury, put the game away with two late threes after Minnesota made its final push.

Takeaways from another strong Sixers win:

Joel Embiid is back (again)

After Embiid went through the Sixers' morning shootaround – he participated from "start to finish," Nurse said later – he was upgraded from doubtful with the illness that held him out of Wednesday's win against the Washington Wizards to probable. At that point, it was clear the Sixers were targeting the front end of their final home back-to-back for the former NBA MVP.

Embiid was back on the floor on Friday night, but he did not exactly look like himself right away. Embiid missed a few shots that he would normally make, and certainly that will be something he points out himself. But his movement appeared quite limited, even relative to the diminished mobility he has displayed for much of this season. He missed his first four shots of the game before Nurse called an out-of-timeout play that netted him an easy mid-range jumper on the baseline. Embiid sunk that shot, but then missed another five in a row.

The Sixers only managed 41 points in the first half, and it was not all on Embiid – George was the only Sixer with more than five points prior to intermission – but Embiid's 1-for-10 shooting line in 18 minutes did not help. To his credit, Embiid was clearly doing all he could to impact the game elsewhere; he blocked two shots early on and battled on the glass as much as he could.

But with Maxey unable to get loose against a slew of impressive Timberwolves perimeter defenders, Embiid struggling mightily and the entire team failing to connect from three-point range, Minnesota led at halftime despite only shooting 34.0 percent from the field.

Embiid knocked down a jumper on a pick-and-pop with Maxey on the first possession of the second half. The Sixers started to find a groove on offense, and Embiid was at the center of it as a facilitator. He knocked down another jumper, triggering a run that put the Sixers back in front. He assisted a Maxey jumper with his signature between-the-legs pass, and suddenly Embiid was only four assists away from a triple-double.

Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch said before the game that one of his team's keys to winning would be limiting Embiid's trips to the foul line, commending his ability to manufacture points by inciting whistles. Embiid found his way to the line more often in the third quarter, and he was playing with real force despite clearly not being in perfect conditions physically. That force, which Nurse often says is the main indicator that Embiid is playing with the right mindset, eventually led to some success shooting from the field.

Embiid knocked down a three from the top of the key near the end of the third quarter, giving him 13 points in the frame. An interesting wrinkle in the final two minutes of the frame: Andre Drummond, out of the rotation in the first half, checked in and played alongside Embiid. Ironically, the best moment Embiid and Drummond had ever experienced sharing the floor came against the Timberwolves years ago:

Nurse's unexpected decision to go with Embiid and Drummond paid off; the Sixers won that stretch of 124 seconds by nine points, giving them a 12-point lead heading into the final frame. Since the Sixers' third-quarter woes have been extremely well-documented all season, it is worth noting that many of their third quarters in recent weeks have been excellent, and Friday's dozen minutes out of halftime were no exception. Embiid played the entire frame, and when it ended he and his teammates received a standing ovation from a terrific crowd.

Drummond was part of a lineup so effective that Embiid and Maxey did not need to return to the game until five minutes were left and the Sixers had a double-digit lead in hand. The Timberwolves clearly did not have enough at that point, and the Sixers put them away.

It was not a good Embiid game in the aggregate, but the fact that he was able to shake off a dreadful first half and end up nearing a triple-double speaks to how high his floor is – and the Sixers' success without him on the floor was encouraging.

Paul George continues to get downhill

Not even two weeks ago, George's approval rating in Philadelphia was in the gutter. But he has played so well since returning from suspension that it almost sounded like he was a fan favorite on Friday night. His ovation as starting lineups were introduced was substantially louder than usual. The crowd was eager to watch him size up defenders and got loud with anticipation as he caught passes beyond the three-point line. It was very noticeable inside the arena.

And since his 25-game suspension came to an end, George's shot-making has been outrageous. He has hit difficult threes, been a master of the mid-range and had a counter for every defense and defender he has seen. But George, even in his most challenging times as a Sixer, never lost his jump-shooting touch. What he did not have was the ability to make defenses fear that he would get downhill. It allowed them to sit on his pull-up jumpers, which were now being taken over close contests instead of backpedaling defenders.

George said before returning that he felt more explosive than he ever has during his time with the Sixers; that the seven-plus weeks he had to work on his body were "exactly" what he needed. Thousands of eyes in the Philadelphia area rolled. But George has been as he advertised himself since his return, and more than his dazzling shooting displays, it has been proven by his ability to create off-the-dribble advantages consistently for the first time in two seasons.

On Wednesday, George was able to overpower weaker defenders and manipulate slower defenders by starting and stopping – his deceleration is his best trait as a driver – to score a bunch of buckets at the rim. On Friday, it was more traditional blow-by drives for George, who for the first time as a member of the Sixers reached double-digit attempts in free throws. It only took him about 20 minutes to get there.

For so many reasons, George's recent surge is encouraging for the Sixers in their pursuit of a playoff spot and a playoff run. He looks like a legitimate primary scoring threat now – someone who can take over a game for an extended period and provide the Sixers with a baseline of offensive production during non-Embiid and/or non-Maxey minutes. If George and VJ Edgecombe continue to anchor second-unit lineups with success like they did on Friday, it would allow Embiid and Maxey to thrive operating their two-man game more often.

With the way George is playing – not just as a shooter, but more specifically as a driver – Nurse's options crafting a 48-minute rotation plan become much more exciting.

Odds and ends

Some additional notes:

• Dominick Barlow had an outstanding sequence early in the game; he was the best player on the floor in the first quarter. He made standout plays on offense, defense and the glass:

• When he reached 15 minutes played in his 65th game of the season, Maxey officially qualified for All-NBA and other end-of-season awards. With the field of eligible candidates narrowing, Maxey looks like a lock to make an All-NBA team for the first time in his six-year career.

Up next: The Sixers will conclude their penultimate back-to-back with their penultimate home game when they play host to the Detroit Pistons on Saturday night.