FINAL: Philadelphia 116 Bulls 115 (Bulls: 20-38, 13-17 at home)
LEADING SCORERS: Bulls: Portis 38 (career high). Philadelphia: Simmons: 32.
LEADING REBOUNDERS: Bulls: Nwaba: 9. Philadelphia: Embiid: 13.
LEADING ASSISTS: Bulls: Payne: 7. Philadelphia: Simmons: 11.
CCI 24 SECONDS COMMENTARY: What a thrilling first game post All Star break. The Bulls trailed by 18 in the first quarter and showed resilience throughout the game, but they simply couldn’t make stops at the end. David Nwaba started in place of Justin Holiday and scored a career high 21 points, and grabbed nine rebounds before fouling out. Bobby Portis was on fire with a career high 38 points, popping in a career high 6-3s. The Bulls tied a franchise record making 18 three-point field goals. Simmons and Embiid were tremendous; two franchise players. Simmons, a 56% free-throw shooter, drained two at the line with just over five seconds left to lift Philly.
CCI STAT OF THE NIGHT: 3:20. The time remaining when Nwaba fouled out with the Bulls leading 111-107. The 76ers finished the game on a 9-4 run and scored the final six points of the game.
CCI SECOND STAT OF THE NIGHT: 7. A team-high number of assists for Cam Payne, playing his first NBA game of the season.
CCI GAME BALL: Robin Lopez, Justin Holiday and Jerian Grant. Three class individuals. As any professional athlete will attest to, they want to compete, but the Bulls need to develop young players in the final 25 games. All three veteran players will support their teammates 24/7. I appreciate their professionalism.
UP NEXT: At Minnesota on Saturday.
NBA NEWS AND NOTES
Steph Curry geared up for Saturday’s primetime event with OKC by torching LAC, sinking 8 3-point field goals, and winding up with 44 points as Golden State won a shootout, 134-127.
Washington 110 Cavs 103. Tomas Satoransky has done a terrific job filling in for the injured John Wall. The Wizards go to 8-2 without their All Star point guard. Satoransky with 17 points. Big win for the Wizards in Cleveland.
OKC 110 Sacramento 107. Westbrook with a three-ball at the buzzer to win it. The Thunder squandered a 23 point lead. Westbrook notched his 18th triple-double. Melo buried seven three-point field goals.
NY 120 Orlando 113. Trey Burke, remember him? Great player at Michigan. Lottery pick with the Jazz. Traded for a second round pick to Washington. Played in the G League this season before signing a few weeks ago with NY. Burke scored a season high 26 as the Knicks end an eight game slide.
Hornets 111 Nets 96. The wheels are off the Nets, losing their eighth-straight game. Remember, the Cavs get their pick. Dwight Howard with a 24-15 game and Kemba Walker with 31.
Thanks for reading CCI. Email me at cswirsky@bulls.com or Twitter: @ctsbulls.
Always a pleasure!