76ers snap 17-game skid, avoid tying NBA record

They did it.  

The Philadelphia 76ers avoided going down in history for all the wrong reasons.

On the brink of tying the record for the worst start in NBA history, the 76ers won for the first time this season and snapped a 17-game losing skid with a 85-77 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday. 

Philadelphia was in jeopardy of tying the 2009-10 New Jersey Nets, who started off the season with an 0-18 mark. The 76ers can rest easy knowing that they claim only the second-worst start in NBA history. 

What the win also means is that players like Nerlens Noel - a 2013 draft pick who missed all of last year due to a knee injury - and walking highlight-reel K.J. McDaniels experienced their first NBA victory and it came 18 games into Philadelphia's season. Such is the life of a 76ers player.

The win brought out comments from all circles, including 76ers legend Allen Iverson. 

The game featured the worst teams from each conference and managed to be even uglier than expected. And it started out in such a fitting way.

Just 16 seconds in, the game was restarted after the two teams were shooting at the wrong ends of the floor. Seriously.

The officiating crew realized the error after Henry Sims was fouled and was set to take his shots at the free-throw line. It was determined at that time that both teams were going in the wrong direction and the game was started over again from scratch. 

It was a bizarre start to a game that quickly turned appalling.

The score at half: 34-32 Timberwolves. That's fewer points combined than the 73 the Dallas Mavericks dropped on the 76ers in the first half of a 53-point win back in mid-November.

Philadelphia then doubled its nine-point second quarter after the break to take a rare lead into the fourth.

The 76ers managed to hang on and close it out in the final quarter to win for the fifth time in their last 54 games. All but four teams, excluding Philadelphia, have a minimum of five wins this season. 

Michael Carter-Williams led the attack and fell just shy of a triple-double with 20 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. 

Up next for the Sixers: a Friday date against Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and the suddenly healthy Oklahoma City Thunder.