Joel Embiid scored 31 points in 33 minutes in his return. Tyrese Maxey recorded his first career triple-double. The Sixers kept the Bulls at arm's length to win their fourth game in the last five.
Here's what I saw.
- As hideous as his first stint of the game was (more on that below), Embiid's second stint was nothing short of marvelous. Frankly, better than anything I would've reasonably expected coming into this game. To Nick Nurse and company's credit, they actively solved problems the second time Embiid checked in. There was no chemistry to be found between the big three in the first quarter. So, they simplified the offense to welcome Embiid back, spamming the two-man game between Tyrese Maxey and the big fella to build an offensive flow. It decluttered things immediately.
The Sixers were down 10 points at the end of the first quarter. As soon as Embiid took the floor with Maxey in the second quarter, Chicago went from cruising the seas comfortably to quickly sinking. The Bulls had nothing for the two-man game, Embiid stepping into 15-footers with ease to fuel the fire.
Maxey and George tested his willingness to get physical, feeding him post-ups against Nikola Vucevic in the short corner. It was those touches that inspired hope that Philadelphia can salvage this season. Embiid chased after his own miss, applying his physicality to finish through contact and earn a foul on one possession. On another possession, he laced a turn-around jumper fading toward the baseline, a vintage Embiid shot.
Embiid trusted the knee far more than he did in his first handful of games this season, catching the ball out of a pick-and-roll and bursting to the rim for an easy finish. He also sealed Vucevic off above the restricted area, catching the ball for a deep post-up and converting a difficult shot in the paint.
The big guy was extremely competitive and confident, unbothered by the brace on his knee or the knee, itself.
He outscored the Bulls, 19-17, in the second quarter. Philadelphia won the frame by 22 points, flipping a double-digit deficit into a double-digit lead almost entirely on Embiid's back.
None of this matters if Embiid's knee discomfort and swelling is cyclical to the point of him having to miss weeks after every few games. But, if the knee is manageable, this game showed you how quickly Philadelphia can salvage this season.
- The lack of chemistry stood out like a sore thumb early in this game. Embiid was very deferential to George and Maxey, spending much of his first stint catching the ball above the break and pivoting into DHOs with either teammate. He set half-hearted screens and just floated out of the way, unsure of his place in the offense. When he did commit himself to getting deeper into the paint out of the roll, he threw an errant pass right to Zach LaVine for one of the Sixers' six first-quarter turnovers.
None of this is to make a big deal of one disjointed stint. But, it does challenge the very philosophy the Sixers are living by this season. Even they wouldn't have seen this Embiid saga playing out the way it has thus far. But, the idea, very publicly, has been to sit Embiid one game in every back-to-back and rest him intermittently to manage the knee. It becomes increasingly difficult to believe that the Sixers will have time to mold the requisite chemistry for the playoffs. Finding a groove against a bad Bulls team isn't the goal. The objective is to build something that they can lean on in a seven-game series against a good team.
- While I thought Embiid's mobility was largely very encouraging, there were moments on defense in which he just didn't have the agility to make a play. He got beat to the rim a handful of times in this game, and even had to foul Vucevic intentionally because he lost him on a blow-by in isolation.
- When Embiid was his best self, he had his eyes locked on the rim. The Bulls gave him single coverage, and he absolutely feasted on it through the first three quarters of the game. I don't know whether it was fatigue, rust or a combination of both, but his decision-making slipped as the Bulls threw extra bodies at him in the fourth quarter. His passes were poor and his grip on the ball was loose. Embiid also lacked awareness for where helpers were, getting blind-sided by Chicago selling out when he turned his back to one side of the floor.
- My first reaction was to be critical of Nurse starting Kelly Oubre Jr. over Jared McCain, but I found both sides of the coin after thinking about it for a few minutes. On one hand, Embiid returning gives you ample interior defense to help protect against McCain getting bullied on the perimeter and hung up on screens. The shooting and spacing is too sweet pass upon.
On the other hand, Embiid is on a minute restriction and probably shouldn't be tasked with having to move a great deal in space on the defensive end of the floor in his first game since November 20. If Oubre's size and experience help reduce that pressure on Embiid's body by even a little bit, it's worth it.
The Sixers (7-15) will host the Indiana Pacers (10-14) on Friday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m., Eastern time. You can watch the game on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
