The Bulls (18-6) found out how legitimate the Philadelphia 76ers (16-6) are in the Eastern Conference as they were embarrassed in the City of Brotherly Love, falling 98-82.
Philadelphia forced the Bulls into 17 turnovers, which they converted into 29 points. After going down 75-55 after the third period expired, Bulls Coach Tom Thibodeau sat all his starters for the entire fourth period.
C.J. Watson led Chicago with 20 points and Derrick Rose was the only starter to reach double figures in scoring with 18 points to go along with 6 assists.
The Sixers won two of three meetings between the two clubs, last season, so Chicago knew how tough an opponent they were coming in, but probably weren’t expecting to be outplayed as thoroughly as they were.
The Bulls managed to keep things close in the first half, being down only 49-44 and usually Chicago responds better coming out of the halftime break with Thibodeau’s emphasis on the first five minutes of the third period, but the Sixers didn’t allow their opponents to get in any type of comfort zone.
“Their defense was great,” Thibodeau told reporters after the game. “We were loose with the ball and you can’t be. They’ve got great hands, they’re quick and you’ve got to make simple plays, simple passes. The ball has got to move. We sort of got in a hole in the second quarter. We closed the half out OK, got ourselves back in it and then, the start of the third quarter, they played really hard.”
The Bulls bench would cut their deficit as low as 12 in the fourth, but the hole was simply too big to climb out of.
“Our starters were so lethargic in the third, quite honestly, if we had gotten closer, I was going to finish with the group that we had in there, because they were fighting to get us out of the hole,” said Thibodeau on the play of the reserves in the fourth.
“This is something that we’re going to learn from,” said Rose. “We play tomorrow. That’s the good thing about this.”
Chicago will play the New York Knicks (8-13) Thursday in Madison Square Garden, so even with being manhandled in Philly, the good thing about this shortened season is not having much time to dwell on such a beating.
NOTES
Tom Thibodeau was named the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for games played in December and January.
Thibodeau led the Bulls to an Eastern Conference-best 18-5 (.783) record to start the season, winning 13 of 18 games by 10 or more points. Chicago went 9-1 at home, including an 8-1 home record against Eastern Conference teams. The Bulls rank first in the NBA in rebounds per game (45.3) and allowed only 87.4 points per game in December and January, good for second best in the NBA.
Oklahoma City Thunder’s Coach Scott Brooks was named the Western Conference Coach of the Month.
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