PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers had their chances at home on Monday in a 108-104 loss to the Chicago Bulls. The Sixers trailed by 12 after three quarters, but they rallied and made it a game late before coming up just short.
Joel Embiid had another phenomenal game: 40 points, 14 rebounds and six assists. However, the Sixers couldn’t get enough offense out of everybody else. Tyrese Maxey was the only other Sixer in double figures with 29 points and 15 of those came in the fourth quarter.
“Our spacing wasn’t right,” said a somber Embiid after the loss. “I think we kinda forgot our fundamentals, but that happens. We’ve been on a roll and I think tonight, a lot of it also has to do with not making shots for really the first three quarters.”
Despite those issues, the Sixers still had a chance. They trailed 106-104 with 16.2 seconds left. Maxey and Embiid ran a pick-and-roll, and Maxey threw a perfect pocket pass to Embiid. The big fella threw up a floater that came up short before DeMar DeRozan sealed it with free throws.
“I thought we got a pretty good shot out of it,” Embiid said of the final shot. “The ball just slipped out of my hands. If I had to do it again, maybe I would have probably just gone with my shot. Just step back and take that short jumper like I’ve always done, but trying to go for the floater, and the ball just slipped out. It happens and yeah, but you know, good execution. Spacing could have been better, too, but good execution, and I just missed it.”
The Bulls also made shots. Patrick Williams and Nikola Vucevic both made some big 3s to give Chicago separation down the stretch. Those shots are killers that ended any furious comeback attempt by Philadelphia.
“I thought we made a pretty good run,” Embiid said of the fourth quarter. “We came back in the game. They hit Patrick Williams and Vuc hit some big shots from 3. We had opportunities, we came back. We fought. Just came up short.”
The Sixers move on to face the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday.
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