The Philadelphia 76ers began their five-game road trip against the Chicago Bulls on Friday night aiming to get Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and Paul George on track. Instead, Philadelphia suffered its second consecutive loss and fans’ frustration with its big three has reached new heights.
The 76ers (16-13) fell to the Bulls (15-15) 109-102 at United Center last night, with Maxey, Embiid and George’s insufficient chemistry on full display. Philadelphia has lost all four games in which its marquee trio has played this season. The team lacks an identity with those three on the floor, while the Bulls–confident in theirs–out-executed the 76ers in crunch time en route to their fifth straight victory.
Embiid has found an offensive rhythm lately, averaging 27 points on 56.6% true-shooting in his last five contests. Once, his scoring was pivotal to Philadelphia’s success. Now, it has become a commodity that is overshadowed by Embiid’s defensive shortcomings. Although he led all scorers with 31 points on 52.6% shooting from the field, the 2022-23 Most Valuable Player seemed to give as much defensively.
Embiid fell victim to a Chicago offense that thrives in transition and creates open three-pointers through ball movement. The Bulls recorded nine more assists than the 76ers and shot 5.9% better from beyond the arc using 41 attempts.
Embiid already faced a disadvantage, playing drop coverage defending Josh Giddey’s pick-and-rolls. The guard made the right reads, finishing with a game-high 11 assists, many of which exploited Embiid’s lack of mobility. To worsen matters, Chicago relied upon two floor-spacing bigs in Nikola Vucevic and Jalen Smith, forcing Embiid to guard in space.
However, the seven-time all-star may have had more energy defensively if he wasn’t anchoring an anemic 76ers offense. Similar to their loss against the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday, the Bulls blitzed Maxey when he ran pick-and-roll with Embiid, yielding the center favorable looks down low. Embiid also received many post-up opportunities.
Philadelphia shot 37.6% from the field, with insufficient firepower as the main culprit. Ironically, Embiid, Maxey and George were the only 76ers to register at least 15 points, but the box score can be misleading.
The 76ers continued to shy away from George in favor of Embiid/Maxey two-man actions, especially in the fourth quarter. This was game-altering, as Philadelphia went scoreless for the last two minutes and 45 seconds of the game. It ran two plays for Maxey in the waning minutes, both of which resulted in a poor shot attempt.
Though he finished with 27 points, the guard shot 37.5% from the field and missed seven of his nine shot attempts in the final quarter. Meanwhile, George attempted just three field goals in the frame and most of his 15 points came without the involvement of Maxey or Embiid.
Philadelphia’s fourth-quarter collapse could also be attributed to poor bench production, the decision to close with Quentin Grimes over Dominick Barlow and struggling off the glass. But, the main reason was that Chicago knew who it was while the 76ers were still trying to find themselves with their best players in action.