PHILADELPHIA — After two early wins over one of many powerhouses of the Eastern Conference, the Chicago Bulls couldn’t pull off one other upset of the Philadelphia 76ers.
It was an unpleasant affair Tuesday — Joel Embiid logged 31 factors in 31 minutes in his return from damage, the Bulls fell ice chilly on 3-pointers and the sport was greater than over earlier than the fourth quarter.
But the worst information of the night time was a single incident within the third quarter: the announcement that Patrick Williams, after taking part in lower than 11 minutes within the first half, wouldn’t return with an ankle damage.
Williams tweaked his proper ankle two video games in the past towards the Indiana Pacers, then reaggravated the damage Saturday towards the 76ers on the United Center. Despite lacking most of Tuesday’s loss, Williams — who performed all 82 video games final season — mentioned he goals to play once more Wednesday.
“I’m not worried,” Williams mentioned. “Meeting with all the training staff, it doesn’t sound like those guys are worried either. So it’s all good.”
The loss emphasised a key concern for the Bulls at this level of the season: accidents. When Coby White slipped within the paint within the third quarter and limped to the locker room, it added a brand new concern for the Bulls, who can’t afford to lose their place to begin guard together with their beginning middle, taking pictures guard and each energy forwards.
White returned to the bench later after seeing the medical employees for a tweak to his ankle, and coach Billy Donovan mentioned the guard might have returned to the sport if essential. But he sat out the remainder of the night time because the Bulls stumbled to a 110-97 loss, preserving his well being for the second half of a back-to-back towards the Knicks on Wednesday in New York.
Here are 4 takeaways from the loss.
1. Joel Embiid is again.
The Bulls beat the 76ers on Saturday on the United Center with out the 2022-23 MVP. This time, they weren’t as fortunate. Embiid returned from an ankle sprain and was dominant, logging 31 factors, 15 rebounds, 10 assists and two blocks in solely 31 minutes.
The Bulls didn’t have a solution for Embiid with out beginning middle Nikola Vučević. Embiid performed the whole first quarter, forcing Donovan to rotate 6-foot-4 energy ahead Terry Taylor into the rotation to protect the middle for a part of the body.
Embiid performed the entire third quarter to clinch the win, then sat for the rest of the sport.
2. Worst first-quarter margin of the season.
The Bulls fell behind by 29 factors within the opening quarter, ending the primary 12 minutes trailing 43-18. It was the biggest margin in a primary quarter within the NBA this season.
The opening 12 minutes had been disastrous on each entrance for the Bulls, who missed all 10 of their 3-point makes an attempt whereas the 76ers went 7-for-11 on 3s. The Bulls assisted on solely two makes whereas the Sixers had 13 assists on 16 made photographs. The Bulls had been outrebounded 13-6, had three photographs blocked and coughed up two turnovers.
After beginning the sport 7-for-25 (28%), the Bulls couldn’t dig out of their scoring droop.
“The way we shoot the basketball cannot impact the physicality that we have to play with defensively,” Donovan mentioned. “They were getting whatever they wanted. Our contest rate to start the game was not great. We then picked it up, but we couldn’t shoot the ball at all.”
3. Bench and 3-point scoring replicate off-kilter offense.
The Bulls couldn’t produce any scoring from behind the 3-point arc or from the bench till it was too late to make a distinction.
They missed their first 13 3-point makes an attempt earlier than Williams broke the skid with 5:30 left within the first half and completed 7-for-37 (18.9%) from behind the arc. Williams (1-for-2), Jevon Carter (3-for-8) and Julian Phillips (1-for-3) had been the one gamers to complete above 30% from 3-point vary.
Meanwhile, the bench didn’t produce scoring till Donovan absolutely rotated his starters out of the sport. Ayo Dosunmu scored the one bench factors (5 factors on 2-for-7 taking pictures) within the first half. The bench scored 20 factors by the tip of the third quarter, at which level White and Williams had been each out of the sport.
4. Adama Sanogo information his first NBA minutes.
The Bulls rookie earned his first minutes within the NBA within the remaining quarter, taking part in the ultimate 9 minutes.
Sanogo, 21, was known as up from the Windy City Bulls — the staff’s G League affiliate — after Vučević’s damage however had not been tapped for any taking part in time. He completed with eight factors and 6 rebounds, making all three of his photographs.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com