Embiid hits late three, stops DeRozan at rim as Sixers outlast Bulls: Likes and dislikes

The Sixers (2-4) visited the Chicago Bulls (3-3) on the second half a back-to-back on Saturday. Philadelphia wanted to win its second consecutive game. Chicago wanted to right its wrongs from a loss to the Spurs on Friday. Joel Embiid’s late triple gave the Sixers a lead they would not relinquish in a 114-109 victory over the Bulls.

Before we get to the game, some notes.

Contextual Notes

The Sixers were without the services of Two-Way signees Julian Champagnie and Michael Foster Jr., who were on G-League assignments with the Delaware Blue Coats.

Doc Rivers started James Harden, Tyrese Maxey, PJ Tucker, Tobias Harris, and Embiid.

The Bulls were without Lonzo Ball, who is recovering from left knee surgery.

Andre Drummond was out with a sprained left shoulder. Ayo Dosunmu was unavailable due to a thoracic contusion. 

Kostas Antetokounmpo (Two-Way) was on assignment with Chicago’s G-League affiliate and was unavailable.

Billy Donovan started Alex Caruso, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Patrick Wiliams, and Nikola Vucevic.

Likes

The offense continued some of the gelling it exhibited on Friday. The early standout in the cohesion was Embiid, who made a concerted effort to function more as a screener within the offense instead of waiting for the ball to find him. He pin-balled around the floor, setting an early floppy screen for Maxey, offering to set a pin-down for Tucker, and setting up wide for high pick-and-rolls with Harden throughout the first quarter. 

That pick-and-roll with Harden fueled the Sixers’ offense for the better part of the first frame. Harden’s passing touch was in sync with Embiid’s roll, and the big man made good decisions out of the roll. The best the starting five looked on offense all season came with Embiid doing his best Draymond Green impression. He caught a Harden pass on the move, pushed the rim in the middle of the floor, and then swung the ball to Maxey in the weak corner for an open triple off of a pin-in screen from either Tucker or Harris.

Embiid was also his aggressive self out of the pick-and-roll. He recognized that he could get anything he wanted at the basket, with Vucevic as the lone big on the floor for Chicago. So, he used that weakness to his advantage, coasting to the rim for a handful of layups out of the pick-and-roll in the first frame.

The Sixers saw some success with an early all-bench lineup of Shake Milton,…