By: Kylan Watson

The Philadelphia 76ers travelled to Chicago to faceoff with the Bulls to end their four-game road trip. The Sixers had revenge on their minds after losing to the Bulls earlier in the month and it was not meant to be today. Chicago had a number of scoring explosions to keep Philly at a distance throughout this game and beat them 105-92.

The Sixers did not start this game off missing a number of makeable shots and the Bulls took full advantage of the early power outage. The Bulls hit every shot opportunity they took in the first quarter and it did not matter if the shots were contested or wide-open they found the bottom of the net. Before the Sixers could even settle into this game they were down by eight-points and it felt like the Bulls would expand their lead with the way they were shooting. The duo of DeMar DeRozan (24-points) and Coby White (20-points) combined for 44 of Chicago’s 105-points and both of them gave Philly’s defenders fits throughout this game. DeRozan in particular could not miss late in this game forcing the Sixers to play at his pace. He took full advantage of Philly having no one available who could check him in tonight’s game and the paint being wide open in the absence of Joel Embiid. The Sixers perimeter defense left a lot to be desired tonight as well and it has to be stronger if they want to go far in the playoffs. Letting DeRozan and White go off is not a formula for success and they need to get the perimeter defense figured out.

Despite the scoring explosion from DeRozan and White the Sixers still had multiple chances to get a victory in Chicago tonight. They just did not have it they created multiple high percentage opportunities and the shots just would not fall. Had some of those shots fallen in this contest the discussion would be different, but they just did not in this game and their offensive inefficiency affected them in other ways tonight. They got outrebounded by 19 in this contest and that allowed the Bulls to have multiple possessions and milk the clock to prevent a Philly comeback. The Sixers have to continue to play to their gameplan whether the shots are falling or not because if they don’t they can end up getting blown off the court like they did tonight.

The Sixers will prepare for another matchup with the Chicago Bulls this time in South Philly. They may have a returning Joel Embiid to add to their offensive and defensive fire power. Philly will need to continue to use ball movement in their offensive scheme and hope that the shots start falling on their home-floor. Additionally, they will need to hold the Bulls to one offensive possession and keep them off the boards. Giving them more opportunities to hit their shots has led to disastrous results for Philly’s defense. If they can implement these things they can get their 22^nd victory of the season.