The Minnesota Timberwolves' offense is "sputtering" and only the calming presence of Rudy Gobert stopped them from losing to the Philadelphia 76ers, said coach Chris Finch.

Minnesota stretched their winning streak to five games with a 114-109 success at Wells Fargo Center, improving to 46-32 for the season.

They are sixth in the Western Conference, though both the Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies have identical records in seventh and eighth.

Philadelphia, meanwhile, are struggling at 23-55 in the East, having lost 11 straight games and 14 of their last 15.

But Finch thought Minnesota were far from their best and only got over the line because of Gobert, who had 23 points and 19 rebounds.

"He refuses to let us lose on nights like this when you can argue that we probably should have," Finch said of Gobert.

"All credit to him. We highlighted his performance in the locker room – we need more guys playing with that intentionality.

"We had a bunch of guys who didn't play well today and the energy goes down around that. 

"Our offense is sputtering. We've got to make more high-energy plays, get guys going."

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Anthony Edwards had 37 points for the Timberwolves, while Julius Randle chipped in 15 and Donte DiVincenzo had 13.

They have won six of their last seven, with a road game against the Milwaukee Bucks – who sealed the final automatic playoff spot in the Eastern Conference on Saturday – up next.