Bulls come up small vs. Embiid, Sixers
The struggling Bulls running up against Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers without starting center Nikola Vucevic, who sat out with a right hamstring strain - the game went how one would expect.
Embiid toyed with the smaller, foul-prone Bulls and poured in 43 points, while the Sixers rolled to a 121-106 victory and handed the Bulls their fifth-straight loss.
Cue the familiar storylines: The Bulls can't beat good teams. They finished 0-4 against the Sixers, while Embiid has never lost to the Bulls, going 11-0 over his career. But maybe there's still hope if Alex Caruso, Lonzo Ball and Patrick Williams return from injuries in the next few weeks.
After the loss, the Bulls certainly talked a confident game, starting with Zach LaVine, who scored a team-high 24 points.
"I'll take me and DeMar (DeRozan) vs. anybody in the entire world," LaVine said. "I feel strongly about that and I still do. But that doesn't matter if you don't win games. We obviously have to start going out there and putting some of these Ws up."
Tristan Thompson, who got the start in Vucevic's place, told a story from his days in Cleveland. In 2014-15, the Cavs went 1-3 in the regular season against Atlanta, then swept the Hawks in the Eastern Conference finals (after beating the Bulls in the second round).
"Sixty wins, they had four all-stars (Al Horford, Jeff Teague, Paul Millsap and Kyle Korver), they were hooting and hollering about them, and we kicked their (butt) easily," Thompson said. "Wasn't even a game."
Then again, that Cavaliers team had LeBron James and the Bulls don't, Thompson was reminded.
"We've got a big three that's really (bleeping) good and they're (bleeping) all-stars," he responded. "Of course, not having Vucevic, who's a walking double-double each and every night and can space the floor is definitely tough. We're missing Lonzo Ball, who's a walking triple-double any given night.
"Then you've got A.C., who's part of the bench mob that can change the game. So I think for us, we just have to look at how can we get better each and every day. We can't look too far ahead. I'm a firm believe in next man up."
Coach Billy Donovan also chimed in on the topic of the Bulls being 0-9 vs. Philadelphia, Miami and Milwaukee.
"I totally just believe there's enough in the locker room to go out there and win," Donovan said. "I really believe that."
Donovan mentioned how few times the Bulls had their full roster on the floor, which is technically zero games when you consider Williams was injured in Game 5 and Coby White returned from shoulder surgery in Game 14.
"Our guys are fighting and battling and we can be better," Donovan said. "I don't know if we'll get whole. This group now, not whole, I agree with you, we have not performed really well against these teams and our margin for error against these teams is very small. Even if we do get totally whole, we're not going to be able to overcome silly fouls, not blocking out, game-plan discipline."
This was another game when the Bulls faced a heavy deficit in free throw attempts, although it did get closer as the game wore on. But in the last four games combined, the Bulls are minus-62 in free-throw attempts and minus-49 in free throws made.
Part of that is because the Bulls are smaller and not a particularly physical team. But they also had their share of bad fouls Monday, when they were just careless or out of position.
At the same time, if the Bulls made some opens 3s and hit shots they've been making all season, they would have been right in the game.
Early in the fourth quarter, while Embiid took a rest, the Bulls had possession facing a 7-point deficit. DeRozan missed a jumper and on the other end, Philadelphia missed. But center DeAndre Jordan, playing his first game with the Sixers, tipped the rebound out to Bulls-killer Georges Niang, who drained an open 3 to make it a 10-point game.
The Sixers have good defenders, but DeRozan has clearly lost his rhythm. He hit just 6 of 17 shots Monday, after averaging 35.7 points in his first three games against Philadelphia. White contributed 19 points.
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