Bulls survive Embiid's big night with win over Sixers |
PHILADELPHIA - The best way to gauge how well a rebuilding team is doing is by looking at the improvements they make from the start of the season to the end. While no one said the Chicago Bulls (11-17) were rebuilding per se, this is a retooling season, and their early season struggles only magnified that.
Monday night saw the Bulls take that next step toward improving this season as they took on the Philadelphia Sixers (18-8) at the Wells Fargo Arena. When you talk about teams that have had the Bulls number for the better part of five seasons, the Milwaukee Bucks and Miami Heat come to mind, as to the Sixers as this has been a team the Bulls have struggled with. If you throw in Zach Lavine remaining out with his foot injury, no one would've been shocked to see this team lose, as they were down four players in this game. However, this is a much different-looking Bulls team right now than before, as they are now 6-3 without Lavine and continued to look like a much better basketball team with an impressive 108-104 victory despite a massive 40-point double-double by Joel Embiid. Is it too early to give Coby White the most improved player in the league honors this season as the fifth-year man continues to go about his business? Despite his streak of consecutive games with at least three triples ending at 14, White was still playing at an all-star level as he paced the Bulls offense again with 24 points while adding nine assists and eight rebounds for a near triple-double. It is incredible to think this was a guy that many Bulls fans didn't think would be around this season, and now he has been the team's MVP since coming back. White has had moments where he has been the only guy knocking down shots, but he can't do it alone, which is where Nikola Vucevic came into play. Although he had his hands full with Embiid, who we will get into in a minute, Vooch still put forth a solid game with 23 points and eight rebounds as the Bulls had four starters and six total players in double figures. Those were the only ones on the team with 20 or more points with Patrick Williams (13 points) and Demar DeRozan (15 points) helping the Bulls offense get rolling in a hurry as they built a massive 11-point lead at the half after ouscoring the Sixers 30-20 in the second half. Even when Philadelphia started to mount a late-game comeback, the Bulls continued to hold their ground, and with Jevon Carter (12 points) and Alex Caruso (10 points) stepping up off of the bench, they gave the Bulls the added boost they needed to win this game. This was a much-needed big game for Carter as he knocked down a team-high four triples on eight tries after struggling to land consistent minutes in the rotation. While the Bulls were far more balanced than the Sixers offensively, it almost didn't matter as two of the Sixers players scored nearly 70 points on their own and had the Bulls defense searching for answers. Embiid, in particular, had a massive night and single-handedly tried to will the Sixers to another victory. The big man has dominated the Bulls throughout his career, but it has been the past three seasons where he has made them look silly. That trend continued on Monday as he led the way with 40 points and added 14 rebounds for an impressive double-double. He was joined by Tyrese Maxey, who went from a reserve player to one of the better young PGs in the game in just three years. Maxey wasn't as efficient from the floor as he would've liked to be at times, but that didn't happen as he was on fire from a distance with a game-high five triples. Pair that with his other made buckets, and Maxey added 29 points and eight assists to give the Sixers a dominating inside/out combination. With those two having their way with the Bulls defense, Philadelphia only needed minimal production from the rest of their roster for them to win this game. They got the minimal production they were looking for, but even they expected the rest of the output to be better than it was. Paul Reed was the next high scorer on the team with eight points, as all of his points came off the bench. Usually, that wouldn't be an issue, but when the rest of the starting lineup has 12 combined points, with six coming from De'Anthony Melton and three each by Nicholas Batum and Tobias Harris, you're asking for trouble, and it bit the Sixers hard in their losing effort to the Bulls. Chicago will be back on the Court Wednesday when they face the Los Angeles Lakers in what will be two home games in two nights.
