The Chicago Bulls dropped to 6-3 on the 2021-22 season with a 114-105 loss against a shorthanded Philadelphia 76ers squad Saturday at the United Center.
The hosts trailed by as many as 14 points in the third quarter, and jumped ahead by one late in the fourth. But ultimately, another large comeback bid came up short.
Here are 10 observations:
1. The Bulls wasted no time thrilling the United Center crowd. Less than three minutes into the game, Lonzo Ball nabbed a steal, then, on a 2-on-0 fast break, left a lob off the backboard for a Zach LaVine alley-oop.
That highlight started when Ball brought a timely double-team to Joel Embiid, who had Javonte Green switched on him. The Bulls played their ideal brand of defense in the first quarter, forcing four turnovers and scoring six points off of them. And their solid work on Embiid, who shot 2-for-6 and committed 3 turnovers in the period, continued from Wednesday’s matchup, at least early on.
3. A lineup composed of DeMar DeRozan, Ball and reserves helped the Bulls vault in front 38-32 in the first five minutes of the second quarter after trailing 22-21 after one. But the script flipped from there. The 76ers won the remainder of the second quarter 25-9, holding the Bulls to just 38.8 percent shooting (2-for-10 from 3-point range) in the first half. Embiid got cooking too, scoring 14 points on 5-for-5 shooting (2-for-2 from deep) in the second. Philadelphia led 57-47 at the break, a continuation of the Bulls’ early-season penchant for sluggish starts.
4. Here’s a wild sequence from the end of the second quarter: Embiid, after losing a ball out of bounds, twisted and punched the air in frustration, but accidentally connected with Ball’s head. A technical was assessed to Embiid, which was upheld after review, but he wasn’t ejected from the game. And there appeared to be no hard feelings.
5. The Bulls threatened multiple times in the third quarter, but entered fourth behind 84-77. A mad dash ensued, keyed by the 76ers fouling two 3-point shooters — Paul Reed got DeRozan in the corner for a 4-point play, then Shake Milton later nicked LaVine on a wing attempt — and some timely transition play. The Bulls visited the charity stripe 16 times in the fourth quarter (making 12) and scored 13 points off 10 Philadelphia turnovers in the second half. Despite shooting just 40.2 percent, the Bulls hung in with free-throws (shooting 24-for-30 from the line to the 76ers' 15-for-19) and extra possessions generated by turnovers, out-attempting the visitors 92 to 81.
At the 5:48 mark of the fourth, LaVine capped a 10-0 run with a 3-pointer to put the Bulls ahead 97-96. After Embiid responded with a 3, Derrick Jones Jr. (who brought a real spark with 12 points and impactful defense off the bench) flushed home a lob to knot the game 99-99 with 4 minutes, 7 seconds to play.
6. But Philadelphia won the stretch run 15-6, spurred by dagger 3-pointers from Furkan Korkmaz, Georges Niang (who followed up an 18-point effort on Wednesday with 12 in this one) and, of course, Embiid, who mockingly waved goodbye to the home crowd after his final make. Korkmaz scored 25 points on 9-for-13 shooting, tying a career high with seven 3-pointers. He also nearly matched the Bulls’ total bench scoring (27 points).
For some added context on Korkmaz’s dominance of the Bulls: The fifth-year forward has now made six or more 3-pointers in five games in his NBA career. Three have come against the Bulls, including 31- and 24-point outings during the 2019-20 season.
7. Nikola Vučević's rough start to the season continued. He began the night by missing eight of his first 11 shots, then had some get-right buckets in the third, but finished with 11 points on 5-for-16 shooting, 1-for-7 from 3, bringing his season-long slash line to 38/25.6/72.2 percent. He was also at times a target for layup attempts on the defensive end; the 76ers scored 46 points in the paint and shot 78.3 percent in the restricted area.
LaVine, despite an off night from behind the arc, finished with a game high 32 points, while DeRozan poured in 25 points and visited the free-throw line 12 times. The Bulls need more from their third star scorer.
8. The Bulls did well to corral Embiid on Wednesday, but he burned them for 30 points and 15 rebounds in this one. His best work, funny enough, came from outside the paint. Embiid shot 4-for-7 from the midrange and 4-for-5 from behind the 3-point arc, accounting for 20 of his 30 points. And, as previously mentioned, he submitted massive buckets down the stretch.
9. As a team, the 76ers outshot the Bulls from 3-point range 13-for-26 (50 percent) to 7-for-29 (24.1 percent) — that’s 18 game points of a difference, and nearly 26 percentage points. Donovan pointed to that as one of the keys to the game swinging with the force it did. Philadelphia shot 12-for-29 from 3 on Wednesday to the Bulls 6-for-21, another massive disparity.
10. Philadelphia played without Tobias Harris, Matisse Thybulle, Isaiah Joe (COVID-19 protocol) and Danny Green (hamstring), making this a bad loss for the Bulls. Worse, it continued a slew of bad trends — falling behind and having to claw back late, Vučević's poor shooting, bouts of offensive stagnance — and even featured shoddy defensive play at times. The 76ers, after all, shot 53.1 percent from the floor, hurting the Bulls’ ability to get out on the fastbreak.
Next up for the Bulls: A home matchup with the Brooklyn Nets on Monday.
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