The Philadelphia 76ers looked every part of a team playing on the second night of a back-to-back, coming out flat against the Chicago Bulls, 105-92, to fall to 22-10 on the season. With Joel Embiid missing his fouth straight game, the team failed to muster much on the offensive end to overcome the hosts.
Tyrese Maxey led the scoring effort with 20 markers, while Tobias Harris added 15. Only two other players logged double-digits as the 76ers turned in their lowest scoring performance this season by a significant margin.
Here are the three biggest takeaways from the game.
3 biggest takeaways as the weary Joel Embiid-less 76ers fall short to the Bulls
1. Bienvenue de retoir, Nicolas Batum!
After missing the last five games, Nicolas Batum returned and didn’t miss a beat. One of only two regulars who drained more than 50 percent of their shots, the veteran drained three of his five three-pointers and played well as a connector as usual. Nick Nurse brought him off the bench, presumable to ease him back, but he should reprise his spot on the opening group in round two against Chicago on Tuesday.
2. Death by Drummond
The Bulls also missed the services of their starting center in Nikola Vucevic, but Andre Drummond showed out against Philly, his former team, with his best performance of the season so far with 15 points, 23 rebounds, and three blocks. The former 76er catalyzed Chicago’s sheer dominance on the boards, corralling 53 to Philadelphia’s 36.
3. United Center… too red?
The vivid and blinding In-Season Tournament courts off City Edition colorways are now tossed to the side, but even the relatively little dash of red in United Center threw the 76ers off. With almost no one havinga. good day shooting the ball, Philly proceeded to log its worst scoring game of the year, and as you might expect, its worst shooting outing as well. The team played clean on the offensive end, coughing the ball up just seven times. Shooting simply betrayed them in this contest.