When Doc Rivers looks at the resurgent Chicago Bulls, one thing stands out.
The Philadelphia 76ers coach is impressed with what Bulls architect Arturas Karni ovas did to renovate the roster over the summer. He loves the team’s athleticism and its multiple offensive options.
“What I like about them most — and winning does this — they’re having fun,” Rivers said Wednesday night before the 76ers’ 103-98 victory over the Bulls at the Wells Fargo Center. “They enjoy each other. And that’s good.”
Winning makes things more fun, and the Bulls — who came into the first of two straight games against the 76ers with a 6-1 record — definitely are enjoying the ride.
But now that they’re establishing themselves as a team to contend with, losses like Wednesday’s are harder to swallow. The Bulls bounced back from an 18-point deficit to tie the game midway through the fourth quarter only to falter in the end.
“These guys battle and fight, they don’t give up,” coach Billy Donovan said. “I’ve got great admiration. They fought their way back. But it’s hard to live like that. You talk about a 19-point comeback against Boston (on Monday), and I thought it showed great resolve and resiliency to do that.
“But, boy, that’s a tough way to live every night if you’re going to sit there and say, ‘We’ve got to come back from that kind of a deficit.'”
DeMar DeRozan led the Bulls with 37 points and Zach LaVine added 27, but the Bulls finished 6-for-21 on 3-point attempts to Philly’s 12-for-28, which Donovan said was the difference.
After erasing that 19-point deficit Monday in their 128-114 comeback win in Boston, the Bulls came from 18 down to tie the 76ers at 87-87 on a DeRozan jumper with 61/2 minutes left. After the 76ers regrouped and went up by nine, the Bulls made another charge on a pair of free throws by DeRozan, a 3-pointer by Lonzo Ball and a fadeaway jumper by DeRozan, pulling to 100-98 with 30 seconds remaining.
Seth Curry, who led the 76ers with 22 points, answered with a pull-up jumper with 10.7 seconds left to make it a four-point game. After a timeout, Joel Embiid blocked DeRozan’s dunk attempt with 5.8 seconds left to seal it. Embiid was called for a foul, but it was overturned on a coach’s challenge.
“Obviously they saw something that was enough to overturn,” LaVine said. “I thought it was a great drive by him. They didn’t switch. He attacked Embiid, looking to get the ‘and one.’ We can’t come down and hope for them to call that call. We’ve got to get going and have a more substantial chance to win the game at the end.”
DeRozan said the loss was a good lesson that the Bulls have to start coming out with a “sense of urgency” to avoid putting themselves in such big holes and play “as close to a 48-minute game” as possible.
“We can’t wait until we’re down and rely on our skills to get us back in the game,” he said. “We showed we could get back in the game, but let’s not make it tough on ourselves. … Especially on the road, playing against a good team. We’ve got to understand that. A game like tonight definitely shows that.”
LaVine said he bumped knees with Embiid on the first play of the game and played through it. Donovan said LaVine told him he was OK, and the trainer concurred. LaVine was 2-for-7 on 3s and made some difficult drives into traffic late in the game with no results, and he said he has “to figure out a way” to play through his thumb injury.
“It is what it is,” he said. “I’ll figure it out. The biggest thing is to go out there and try not to think about it.”
The 76ers came out strong while playing short-handed, taking a 58-44 lead into halftime with their bench outscoring the Bulls reserves 21-4. DeRozan and LaVine kept the Bulls in the game, combining for 29 first-half points on 11-for-22 shooting.
The 76ers were missing Tobias Harris, a vaccinated player who tested positive for COVID-19; Danny Green, who was out with left hamstring tightness; and Ben Simmons, listed as out for “personal reasons.”
Simmons has been in a protracted dispute with the team since announcing before the season he no longer wanted to play in Philly. He worked out at the team’s practice facility last week, but it’s unknown when the disgruntled point guard will return.
“I have spoken to him, and I have no idea,” Rivers said.
Rivers simply shrugs off the distractions, and the 76ers (6-2) have played well without Simmons.
“I don’t think about it,” Rivers said. “I coach the guys that are on the floor every day. That’s what I focus on. And we’ve done pretty well with that.”
The Bulls probably have to play this frenzied style of ball all season to be successful. They’re not going to get any bigger, and their defense will have to carry them some nights.
Can they keep up the pace?
“I think we can sustain it,” Donovan said. “I don’t sense that it’s like we’re pressing full-court and playing 94 feet. Just in the half-court because we are undersized in some areas and it’s not like we’ve got great length at the rim. We’ve got to do it collectively.
“I feel like we can. Eighty-two games is a long season, a lot of minutes, but you’re going to have to put in some kind of physical work either way, just because teams are running and playing faster and have so many more possessions.”
The Bulls still are trying to figure things out, but every game is another chance to show they’re not a fluke.
“Everything can’t be perfect,” DeRozan said. “We’re not even 10 games in. There’s a lot we can learn from this.”
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