The Bulls rob the Sixers in style!

What a spectacle Chicago ! In the United Center that was initially air-conditioned, but ended up being packed Bulls overthrown we don’t really know how Sixersalthough in this game they trailed by… 24 points. It’s called the hero of the evening Nikola Vucevic (19 points, 10 rebounds), the author of the winning basket with 3.2 seconds left.

In total, teammates from Josh Giddeistill in the triple-double (29 points, 15 rebounds, 12 assists) and who was lonely for a long time in Philadelphiawill lead… only once in this match. But it came at the perfect time and that’s what it took to destroy the new box Tyrese McKay (39 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists).

Before Josh Giddy’s miraculous “game-winning” pass to Nikola Vucevic, followed by Quentin Grimes’ miss at the buzzer, the Bulls logically suffered through the Sixers. Unprepared to defend wide, they dominated with physical intensity rather than 3-point success, chasing the score throughout the match.

But the Illinois collective has resources this season and, in addition to returning to dominance in the paint, Chicago forced Philadelphia to lock into a kind of “basketball hooray”, exemplified by Joel Embiid (20 points in 26 minutes, but 7/21 shooting), which disrupted its game. Until the ax fell, in the last moments…

https://vvv.youtube.com/vatch?v=C664kUAggaA

TO BE REMEMBERED

– Chicago came back out of nowhere. Something is clearly going on in Illinois this season. For the sixth time in seven games, the Bulls won and tonight, we can’t say we expected it. Even more so when we saw Billy Donovan’s players take water in the first quarter, or when we saw them fall behind by 24 points (!) during the second quarter. Only a 19-8 run led by Josh Giddy and Kevin Huerter got things going again at the end of the third quarter, and then the home team let Jaylen Smith, Giddy and finally Nikola Vucevic punish this Sixers team in a full-on skill crisis.

– Philidelphia has completely failed. Like Joel Embiid, after the break, the Sixers didn’t see the light again in the second half. Especially in the fourth quarter, which they ended with a 9-0 lead, no points in the last four minutes and no baskets in the last six. Less and less skilled in shooting, more and more abandoned in defensive retreat and less and less careful with the ball, Nick Nurse’s men have crumbled by failing to react and this failure hurts, and “back to back” looms in Cleveland.

– Jared McCain is back… Eleven months after his last appearance with the Sixers, Jared McCain played again and finally put the injuries on the meniscus and then the thumb behind him. Used off the bench (15 minutes), he didn’t exactly shine (0 points, 2 assists) and showed some awkwardness (0/4), but he was clearly the main thing at second for the 16th pick in the 2024 draft, who will now want to move forward after his last frustrating and emotionally difficult year.

– …and Red Panda too ! It was also impossible not to highlight the return of the indestructible Red Panda and her intoxicating music, which she plays while collecting several bowls on her head which she kicks while sitting on her unicycle, 2m50 off the ground. Four months ago, Rong Niu, his real name, broke her wrist at halftime of a WNBA game because her unicycle was damaged in transit, resulting in an accident, and then spent 11 hours in a Minneapolis hospital. But the 55-year-old acrobat finally recovered and returned to Chicago.

https://vvv.youtube.com/vatch?v=Ttlisz3hc1I

How to read statistics? Min = Minute; Shots = Shots Successful / Shots Attempted; 3 points = 3 points / attempt 3 points; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; O = offensive rebound; D=defensive jump; T = Total number of jumps; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal mistakes; Int = intercepts; Bp = lost balls; Ct: Against; +/- = Difference of points when the player is on the field; Points = Points; Rating: player rating calculated based on positive actions – negative actions.