PHILADELPHIA — DeMar DeRozen had dipped into his midrange bag, willing the Chicago Bulls back from a double-digit deficit to tie the Sixers with less than seven minutes to play in the fourth quarter. When the game appeared out of reach again, DeRozan kept charging, hitting a leaning jumper that got the Bulls within two with less than 30 seconds remaining.
But then the Sixers answered, as they had all night after building an early advantage.
Seth Curry hit big shots, including the pull-up in the lane that pushed the Sixers’ lead to four with 10.7 seconds to play. A struggling Joel Embiid came through when it mattered most, with an emphatic and-1 finish that launched the home crowd into MVP chants. And the Sixers eventually clinched a 103-98 victory over the Bulls Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
It was an impressive finish to a 4-0 homestand for the Sixers, who played Wednesday without veteran starters Tobias Harris (health and safety protocols) and Danny Green (hamstring tightness). But it came with late-game drama after the Bulls clawed all the way back from an 18-point first-half deficit, got 37 points from DeRozan and somehow were within one possession with less than 30 seconds to play.
The Bulls came to Philly as one of the NBA’s early success stories, but struggled to slow the short-handed Sixers for much of Wednesday night. The Sixers shot 49.4 % from the floor and 12 of 28 from 3 to build and hold a double-digit lead and withstand every Bulls rally attempt.
After the Sixers face the Pistons in Detroit on Thursday, these teams will meet again in Chicago Saturday night.
Curry, Niang stay hot
The Sixers again revved up the minivan — Georges Niang’s self-proclaimed nickname — and brought a headband along for the ride. Curry scored a team-high 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting, while Niang finished with 18 points on 4-of-8 shooting from 3-point range.
Without Harris, Curry took the big perimeter shots down the stretch to complement Embiid’s scoring down low. That he had the ball in his hands on the Sixers’ most important offensive possession illustrated his importance on this team — especially right now.
Curry, who entered Wednesday shooting a blistering 61% from the floor and 54% from 3-point distance, propelled the Sixers early with nine points in eight first-quarter minutes on 4-of-6 shooting.
He cooled off in the second, but Niang was there to take over. After totaling 21 points in Monday’s win over Portland, he got his points Wednesday on a mix of 3-pointers and drives to the basket. He scored 10 of his 12 first-half points during that critical 15-0 Sixers run, making both 3-pointers, hitting a jumper, and sinking two free throws.
Curry then hit his first two shots of the third, while Niang scored six points in the period to help stifle another Bulls surge.
Strong start, strong responses
The Sixers built a 13-point lead in the first quarter, primarily by burying five of their 10 3-point attempts while holding the Bulls to 1 of 7 from distance. Then, they survived four Chicago pushes, punctuated by that final shot from Curry.
It was their second answer of the final quarter, after DeRozan hit a baseline jumper, Ayo Dosunmu nailed a 3, and DeRozan buried another textbook midrange pull-up to cut the Sixers’ lead to 87-85 with less than seven minutes to play.
But Curry answered with a jumper to break the tie, then another one to extend the lead to 92-89. Then came Embiid’s and-1 finish, and another two free throws to push the lead back up to 96-89 with less than five minutes remaining.
In the first half, when Chicago staged a 16-6 run to get within 35-32 with about eight to play in the second period, a Furkan Korkmaz dunk sparked 15 consecutive points for Philly to seize a 50-32 lead with about five minutes to play before the break. Niang hit two 3-pointers during that stretch, while he, Embiid, and Tyrese Maxey all got to the free-throw line.
Then in the third, when a Zach LaVine 3-pointer sliced Philly’s lead to 76-69 with less than three to play in the period, the Sixers quickly answered with an 8-0 spurt to extend the lead back to 15 points.
New starting lineup
With Harris and Green out, Korkmaz and Matisse Thybulle moved into the starting lineup.
Korkmaz started an efficient 4 of 5 from the floor and finished with 11 points and five rebounds. Thybulle was the primary defender on LaVine, totaling three steals and two blocks to go with eight points and four rebounds.
Embiid, meanwhile, initially struggled from the floor in his return from a one-game absence to rest. He missed 10 of his first 15 shots, but contributed nine rebounds and seven assists. His sharp feed to Thybulle for a dunk that gave the Sixers a 100-91 helped build the cushion they needed for the Bulls’ final charge.
