FINAL: Philadelphia 127, Bulls 108. Bulls start the season 0-1, Philadelphia improves to 1-1.
LEADING SCORERS: Bulls: LaVine, 30. 76ers: Embiid, 30.
LEADING REBOUNDERS: Bulls: Portis, 11. 76ers: Simmons, 13
LEADING ASSISTS: Bulls: Arcidiacono, 8. 76ers: Simmons, 11.
CCI RECAP: An entertaining first quarter for the Bulls took a nosedive in the second and third quarters as the 76ers outscored the Bulls 67-37 in that span. The Bulls led 41-38 after the opening twelve minutes. The first period looked like a throwback ABA game of the 70s. Ah, you got to love the Kentucky Colonels. Where is Louie Dampier? Never heard of the ABAS? Google it. Better yet, read “Loose Balls.” I digress....
The 76ers took advantage of transition basketball, Bulls’ turnovers and ability to get to the free throw line. It was just too much Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and Dario Saric. In fact, the 76ers had eight players scoring in double figures. For the Bulls, Zach LaVine led the team with a monster night of 30 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 blocked shots. Bobby Portis added 20 points 11 rebounds. The Bulls played without the injured Lauri Markkanen and Denzel Valentine, and starting point guard Kris Dunn missed the game with an excused absence due to personal reasons.
CCI INSIDE THE LOCKER ROOM: Coach Hoiberg: “I thought we came out with good pace. Second quarter we became stagnant. Third quarter was the difference, we just could not recover.”
CCI STAT OF THE NIGHT: 13-13-11. Ben Simmons did it all with his scoring, rebounding, assists. His third triple double against the Bulls in four career games.
CCI 2nd STAT OF THE NIGHT: 30. The amount of free throw attempts taken by the 76ers. The Bulls went to the line just 12 times.
DESPITE THE LOSS There were some positives, ranging from the starting play of LaVine and Portis to the bench play of Ryan Arcidiacono who played 24 minutes and had a solid outing, posting 8 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists, and no turnovers.
UP NEXT: Bulls home Saturday vs Detroit.
CCI 24 SECONDS NBA NEWS AND NOTES:
Portland Trail Blazers 128, LA Lakers 119. LeBron James made his Lakers’ debut: 37 minutes: 26 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, 6 turnovers. The Lakers shot just 23% from 3 point range. Portland’s Nik Stauskas..that’s right..my man Nik Stauskas, the pride of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada pumped in 24 points in 27 minutes then bought the entire Blazers’ team a month supply of Tim Horton’s donuts. I just made that last part up.
Miami Heat 113, Washington Wizards 112. Kelly Olynyk with a put back hoop with less than one second left propelled the Heat to the victory in their second game in as many nights. The Wizards’ Dwight Howard missed the game with a troublesome backside. For now, the Heat have cooled on any trade proposals with Minnesota regarding Jimmy Butler.
The NBA G League today announced a Select Contract as part of a comprehensive professional path that will be available, beginning with the 2019-20 season, to elite prospects who are eligible to play in the NBA G League but not yet eligible for the NBA. The contracts, which will include robust programmatic opportunities for development, are for elite players who are at least 18 years old and will pay $125,000 for the five-month season.
A generous and brilliant idea shown by Minnesota’s Andrew Wiggins, who will donate 22 dollars (his jersey number) for every point he scores this season to supporting underprivileged children who face barriers in participating in organized sports.
Thanks for reading CCI. Always a pleasure. Reach out to me : cswirsky@bulls.com or Twitter: @ctsbulls