CHICAGO — Doc Rivers continues to insist that the 76ers do not talk about the “clutter,” from the ongoing Ben Simmons saga to the growing list of players in health and safety protocols.
And they keep proving their coach’s point with their resilient play. The Eastern Conference-leading Sixers amassed their sixth consecutive win by holding off the Chicago Bulls, 114-105, Saturday night at the United Center.
Philly picked up this victory without Tobias Harris and Isaiah Joe, who remain in health and safety protocols after testing positive for COVID-19 earlier this week, Matisse Thybulle, who joined them in protocols Friday due to contact tracing, and Danny Green, who continues to nurse hamstring tightness.
The Sixers (8-2) used a 15-0 second-quarter run to build a double-digit lead, withstood multiple second-half Bulls runs — including another furious late rally.
After Zach LaVine gave Chicago a 97-96 lead with less than six minutes to play, Joel Embiid calmly sank a corner 3-pointer. Embiid later followed a Derrick Jones Jr. game-tying put-back with a jumper, before Furkan Korkmaz nailed a 3-pointer to put Philly up by two possessions.
Then when a DeMar DeRozan jumper cut that lead to 106-104 with less than two minutes remaining, Georges Niang answered with a 3-pointer. Another corner 3 by Embiid put the game away 15.5 seconds to play, capping a sensational 30-point, 15-rebound effort.
The Sixers’ challenges continue next week, when they host the New York Knicks and defending-champion Milwaukee Bucks in back-to-back games on Monday and Tuesday.
Embiid’s spectacular night
Embiid’s 30-point, 18-rebound effort in a closer-than-it-should-have-been win against the Detroit Pistons was his best statistical performance of an early season that has been disappointing by Embiid’s MVP-contender standards. But Saturday’s outing was more impressive given the competition level, roster status and venue.
Embiid missed four of his first six shots, continuing a troubling early-season trend. But he snapped out of that slump in a massive way. He made all of his shots in the second period, including a three-pointer that capped a 15-0 Sixers run, an and-1 finish and a step-back 3-pointer in the final minute of the period. As that last shot went in, Andre Drummond waved a towel over his head from the Sixers’ bench. At the half, he already had 20 points and 10 rebounds.
That make also came after picking up a technical foul late in the period. After fumbling the ball out of bounds, Embiid swung his arm in frustration and, as he turned around, inadvertently made contact with Lonzo Ball’s face. The officials reviewed the call and upheld the technical, but no other punishment was handed down and Ball missed the free throw.
The 2021-22 sample size remains small. But Embiid had entered Saturday shooting a career-worst 41.2% from the floor and averaging 20.4 points per game, his lowest average since his rookie season.
Welcome back, Furk
When asked about what would determine if Furkan Korkmaz could return from a one-game absence due to a wrist injury, coach Doc Rivers quipped that “if he can shoot with that hand, he’s fine.”
Uh, yes.
Korkmaz totaled 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting, including a blistering 7 of 9 from 3-point range. It was his best outing since his fourth-quarter flurry in the season opener against the New Orleans Pelicans.
Korkmaz buried his first five shots, including three 3-pointers in his first minutes of game action. Later, he hit a tough transition shot beyond the arc to give Philly a 42-38 lead in the second quarter and hit a floater.
He later his another shot from beyond the arc to open the fourth quarter to extend the Sixers’ lead to 87-77, a tough layup to push the advantage back to double digits. Later, when a four-point play by DeMar DeRozan got the Bulls within 93-87 with 9:14 to play, Korkmaz drained another 3.
Paul Reed’s first start
Second-year big man Paul Reed was the beneficiary of the slew of Sixers absences, getting his first-career NBA start and finishing with 10 points and five rebounds.
His highlight moments included a reverse layup in the first quarter and emphatic put-back dunk in the second. He collected another put-back dunk early in the third to push the Sixers’ lead back up to 63-51. Later, he tracked down a loose ball, put it on the floor and finished at the rim to give the Sixers a 65-51 advantage.
Yet Reed was clearly learning on the fly. When he exited the game in the first quarter, staffers pulled out a tablet to immediately review film. DeRozan also drew two fouls on him in the third quarter, including an and-1 that helped ignite the Bulls’ rally to trim a 14-point deficit to six. In the fourth, he fouled DeRozan on a made 3-pointer.
Putting Reed in the starting lineup allowed Korkmaz and Niang to anchor the second unit. Niang, who was excellent earlier in the week, missed seven of first eight shots and picked up five fouls before drilling one of the game’s biggest buckets when his top-of-the-key 3 gave the Sixers a 109-104 advantage with 1:21 to play.
