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PHILADELPHIA — After two early wins over one of the powerhouses of the Eastern Conference, the Chicago Bulls couldn’t pull off another upset of the Philadelphia 76ers.
It was an ugly affair Tuesday — Joel Embiid logged 31 points in 31 minutes in his return from an ankle injury, the Bulls fell ice cold on 3-pointers and the game was more than over before the fourth quarter.
But the worst news of the night was a single incident in the third quarter: the announcement that Patrick Williams, after playing less than 11 minutes in the first half, would not return with an ankle injury.
Williams tweaked his right ankle two games ago against the Indiana Pacers, then aggravated the injury Saturday against the 76ers at the United Center. Despite missing most of Tuesday’s loss, Williams — who played all 82 games last season — said he aimed to play again Wednesday.
“I’m not worried,” Williams said. “Meeting with all the training staff, it doesn’t sound like those guys are worried either. So it’s all good.”
The loss emphasized a key concern for the Bulls at this point of the season: injuries. When Coby White slipped in the paint in the third quarter and limped to the locker room, it added a new fear for the Bulls, who can’t afford to lose their starting point guard along with their starting center, shooting guard and both power forwards.
White returned to the bench later after seeing the medical staff for a tweak to his ankle, and coach Billy Donovan said the guard could have returned to the game if necessary. But he sat out the rest of the night as the Bulls stumbled to a 110-97 loss, preserving his health for the second half of a back-to-back against the Knicks on Wednesday in New York.
Here are four takeaways from the loss.
1. Joel Embiid is back.
The Bulls beat the 76ers on Saturday at the United Center without the 2022-23 MVP. This time they weren’t as lucky. Embiid returned from an ankle sprain and was dominant, logging 31 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists and two blocks in only 31 minutes.
The Bulls didn’t have an answer for Embiid without starting center Nikola Vučević. Embiid played the entire first quarter, forcing Donovan to rotate in 6-foot-4 power forward Terry Taylor to guard the 7-foot Embiid for part of the quarter.
Embiid played all of the third quarter as well to clinch the win, then sat for the remainder of the game.
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2. Worst first-quarter margin of the season.
The Bulls fell behind by 29 points, finishing the first 12 minutes trailing 43-18. It was the largest margin in a first quarter in the NBA this season.
The opening 12 minutes were disastrous on every front for the Bulls, who missed all 10 of their 3-point attempts while the 76ers went 7-for-11 on 3s. The Bulls assisted on only two makes while the Sixers had 13 assists on 16 made shots. The Bulls were outrebounded 13-6, had three shots blocked and coughed up two turnovers.
Chicago Tribune Sports
After starting the game 7-for-25 (28%), the Bulls couldn’t dig out of their scoring slump.
“The way we shoot the basketball cannot impact the physicality that we have to play with defensively,” Donovan said. “They were getting whatever they wanted. Our contest rate to start the game was not great. We then picked it up, but we couldn’t shoot the ball at all.”
3. Bench and 3-point scoring reflected an off-kilter offense.
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The Bulls could not produce any scoring behind the 3-point arc or from the bench until it was too late to make a difference.
They missed their first 13 3-point attempts before Williams broke the skid with 5:30 left in the first half, and they finished 7-for-37 (18.9%) behind the arc. Williams (1-for-2), Jevon Carter (3-for-8) and Julian Phillips (1-for-3) were the only players to finish above 30% from 3-point range.
Meanwhile, the bench did not produce until Donovan fully rotated his starters out of the game. Ayo Dosunmu scored the only bench points (five points on 2-for-7 shooting) in the first half. The bench scored 20 points by the end of the third quarter, at which point White and Williams were both out of the game.
4. Adama Sanogo recorded his first substantial NBA minutes.
The Bulls rookie from Connecticut played the final nine minutes of the fourth quarter.
Sanogo, 21, was called up from the Windy City Bulls — the team’s G League affiliate — after Vučević's injury but had played only 31 seconds Thursday against the Indiana Pacers. He finished Tuesday’s game with eight points and six rebounds, making all three of his shots.