3 observations after Sixers’ winning streak ends at six with narrow loss to Bulls originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Sixers fell Monday night to their first loss since Dec. 1.
The Bulls beat them at Wells Fargo Center, taking a 108-104 game and moving to 11-17 on the season. With their six-game winning streak over, the Sixers sit at 18-8.
Joel Embiid‘s personal streaks remained intact. Embiid had 40 points and 14 rebounds Monday, meaning he’s scored at least 30 points in 12 consecutive games and posted 30 and 10 in 11 straight contests.
Tyrese Maxey had 29 points and eight assists.
Coby White (24 points) and Nikola Vucevic (23 points) were Chicago‘s leading scorers.
Sixers forward Marcus Morris Sr. was sidelined by an illness. The Bulls were down Zach LaVine (right foot inflammation) and Torrey Craig (right heel soreness).
The Sixers will next face the Timberwolves on Wednesday in Philadelphia. Here are observations on their loss to Chicago:
Embiid and White the stars of the first
Embiid played in a seventh straight game after having been listed as questionable with left hamstring tightness.
Initially, he didn’t appear at his absolute best. Embiid missed a lefty layup on the Sixers’ opening play, came up short on a pull-up jumper, and was off on his first foul shot.
The Sixers still were very good overall out of the gates. Chicago started 1 for 7 from the floor and the Sixers guarded well on the perimeter. They communicated effectively on switches, scrambled around to nullify potential problems and avoided any pointless gambles.
Embiid’s two-way impact was inevitably immense once he found his rhythm. He drew a second foul on Vucevic with 8:19 left in the first quarter, drained a top-of-the-key three-pointer, and conducted much of the Sixers’ offense. Embiid scored 14 of the Sixers’ 24 first-quarter points.
However, the Sixers lost some juice late in the first and White challenged the Sixers’ defense with impressive three-level scoring, testing the team in a way it hadn’t been recently against bottom-of-the-standings opposition.
White keyed an 11-0 Bulls run and finished the first period with 13 points, all of which came in the quarter’s final five minutes.
Uncharacteristic rough patches for Sixers’ offense
The Sixers had their worst offensive first half in quite a while Monday night.
No Sixer besides Embiid took a first-half free throw. The team shot 4 for 14 from three-point range and committed 10 turnovers. Starting forwards