76ers vs. Bulls: 3 Things That Stood Out on Friday
The Chicago Bulls snapped a multi-year losing streak against the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night. After falling short to Philadelphia in 12 straight games, the Bulls finally found success against the Sixers as they paid their first visit to South Philly this week.
With a 126-112 loss, the Sixers lose their first matchup in a few outings. Earlier this week, the Sixers took care of business by picking up their second-straight win against the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday night.
Then on Wednesday, the Joel Embiid-less Sixers engaged in an overtime battle with the Indiana Pacers. While the Sixers nearly allowed the Pacers to make a comeback and snag an upset victory. The Sixers kept the ball rolling. Unfortunately, all of the momentum disappeared on Friday night against the Bulls.
Here’s what stood out:
Zach LaVine Makes it Pour in South Philly
There’s been a lot of rumors and reports surrounding the Bulls hinting at possible turmoil behind the scenes. At the forefront of it all is Chicago’s star, Zach LaVine. Did LaVine enter Friday’s game with a chip on his shoulder as a result? It sure looked like it.
The All-Star was locked in. With a 38-minute shift, LaVine chucked up 19 shots from the field. By the end of the night, LaVine hit on 74 percent of his shots and made 85 percent of his 13 three-point attempts. Last Friday, the Sixers allowed Pelicans' sharpshooter CJ McCollum to knock down 11 threes. This Friday, LaVine did the same.
LaVine wrapped up Friday’s matchup with a game-high of 41 points. While most of his production came from beyond the arc, LaVine tacked on some of his baskets in the paint as well. He was by far the best player on the floor Friday night.
The Absence of Embiid
Joel Embiid was ruled out for the second-straight game on Friday. After suffering a minor injury against the Pelicans on Monday, Embiid’s been battling with a sore foot. He missed the Wednesday night win in Indiana. He was ruled out for the Friday night loss against Chicago as well.
Earlier in the season, Embiid found success against Chicago, scoring a game-high of 25 points in the Philadelphia victory. Without the All-Star big man on the floor Friday night, you could spot the disadvantage for the Sixers, who went small with PJ Tucker to start the matchup.
In the first half, the Bulls were finding tons of success in the paint. While the ball was spread out in the second half, as Chicago caught fire from deep, the Bulls set the tone of the game in the first half with their dominance at the rim.
By the end of the game, Chicago had made 86 percent of their shots at the rim. In comparison, the Sixers converted on just 48 percent of their shots at the rim, according to Cleaning the Glass. Embiid’s absence on defense was a glaring disadvantage for Philadelphia.
Offensively, the Sixers took an obvious hit as well. In his career, Joel Embiid has averaged 29 points while shooting 55 percent from the field against the Bulls. With 12 matchups against Chicago, Embiid has never lost to the Bulls. Without him, the Sixers couldn’t overcome Chicago.
Ice Cold From the Field
Doc Rivers established an offensive pecking order for the Sixers at the beginning of the season. Joel Embiid, who led the NBA in scoring just a season ago, obviously sits at the top. Behind him is the former NBA MVP, James Harden, who’s established himself as one of the best scorers the league has seen.
While Harden’s tweaked his game a bit by becoming more of a facilitator, some extra weight gets put on his shoulders when it comes to scoring when Embiid’s off the floor. Harden looked to fill the void of Embiid by putting up 17 shots, which was the second-most attempts from the field behind Tobias Harris, but The Beard couldn’t get it going.
Overall, Harden drained just 24 percent of his shots on Friday night. From deep, Harden attempted nine shots and hit on just three of his threes. He finished the game with 17 points. If a couple of his deep shots see different results, it could’ve been a much different ball game on Friday night.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.
