The Sixers had no problem beating the Chicago Bulls, 115-101, on Australian heritage night at the Wells Fargo Center, improving to 23-21 on the season.
On a night when Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, and Dario Saric were all named as members of the NBA’s Rising Stars game that will take part during the all-star festivities on Feb. 16, the trio showed exactly why they deserved the selections.
The three combined for 62 of the Sixers points and each had standout moments.
Simmons already had double-double in the early minutes of the second quarter, and clearly had no intentions of letting up. With 11 minutes, 11 seconds on the clock in the third quarter he passed to a wide open Robert Covington who hit the three-pointer and sealed Simmons’ fifth triple-double of the season.
Simmons was 7-of-10 from the free throw line, mixed runners, jumpers, and driving dunk to finish the night with 19 points, 17 rebounds, and 14 assists.
With the Sixers’ backcourt significantly depleted because of injuries to Jerryd Bayless and JJ Redick, and T.J. McConnell away from the team attending his father-in-law’s funeral, there were moments in the first half that saw both two-way player James Young and Larry Drew II, who signed a 10-day contract with the Sixers, on the floor at the same time.
The deep reserve unit struggled to have the same impact as the Sixers regulars, but the stars were aligned for the team’s starters, who created a 79-54 advantage after back-to-back three-pointers from Saric and Embiid.
Saric had an excellent shooting night, finishing 6-of-9 from the field including 4-of-5 from three for a 21 point, 10 rebound double-double, extending his double-digit scoring streak to 24 games.
Embiid, who was quickly charged with two fouls in the first quarter, came alive in the second half and finished the night with an easy 22 points, five rebounds, and two blocks.
The Sixers were without Embiid in their last meeting with the Bulls in Chicago on Dec. 18, when Kris Dunn and Nikola Mirotic punished the Sixers with 22 points apiece.
The Bulls, paced by Bobby Portis with 22 points and Zach LaVine with 21 points, were able to cut the Sixers lead down to 13 points in the fourth quarter, but never put on any significant pressure on the Sixers, who led by as many as 25.
Covington (16 points) went 4-of-4 from deep and joined Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot (12), and Justin Anderson (12) as the other double-digit scorers for the Sixers.
The Sixers are 8-2 in their last 10 games as they head out for a four-game road trip.
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