Philadelphia 76ers: Notes from Embiid-less win over Chicago Bulls
The Philadelphia 76ers pulled off an important win behind Furkan Korkmaz’s career night.
The Philadelphia 76ers have been such an odd team to follow so far as we see conflicting performance game by game. Watching the Sixers face the Bulls at home, you get that worried feeling as this is the type of matchup they need to win on a nightly basis. This season has been weird with the expectations the front office set for the fanbase, going all-in on Al Horford and Tobias Harris, building a big core around Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons.
Another slow start with the team trailing 47-46 at the half but the team looked in the mirror and turned it around early in the third. Brett Brown’s rotations are all over the place, but starting Matisse Thybulle seems like a solid move with his energy on both sides of the ball.
Furkan Korkmaz had a very nice night off the bench, leading the team in points with 24. With how inconsistent the bench play has been, it’s encouraging to see Furkan continue to develop as a scorer. He has been ridiculed by some Sixers fans, but his recent play speaks for itself. If he can keep this up consistently it would help the flow of the offense immensely.
Simmons and Horford had big nights, both with 20 points and leading the team in that second-half run. Tobias continued to thrive as well, impacting the offense with 13 points. Putting up 100 without Embiid is something this team should be able to do more consistently, so hopefully this is a sign of the team moving in the right direction. With the length of Embiid’s absence still unknown, Ben, Horford, Tobias, and others all need to step up and prepare this squad for the playoffs.
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With plenty of games left, the team needs to continue to strive toward building an identity and on-court chemistry. With another winnable matchup tonight playing the Knicks, they have anopther opportunity to grow and prove themselves as a genuine contender.