Quick Six: Sixers destroy Bulls in Joel Embiid's return

Joel Embiid gave the Sixers a 30-point triple-double in his return to the floor on Tuesday night, leading a 110-97 defeat of the Chicago Bulls. Philadelphia’s starters sat the entire fourth quarter, so don’t let the score tell the whole story.

Here’s what I saw.

The Joel Embiid effect

Is adding Joel Embiid to the lineup the direct cause of Philadelphia pouncing on the Bulls early in Tuesday night’s game? Yes and no. Embiid didn’t shoot the ball for his teammates, who absolutely burned the nets down in their return to the Wells Fargo Center. But you can trace a lot of those open looks they got back to Embiid, whether they were generated by the big man directly or a product of his impact on both ends of the floor.

The Bulls were not shy about throwing doubles and pressure at Embiid early in this game, testing how sharp his reads would be coming off a layoff. He hardly blinked in the face of constant pressure, spraying passes to all corners of the court to find Philadelphia’s shooters. Chicago had picked their poison in hoping the Sixers’ role players wouldn’t beat them, and they ended up at midcourt with their tongue in the air and red cartoon X’s where their eyes ought to be.

Embiid’s ability to free guys up for shots wasn’t just about the double-team reads, of course. The Bulls shot poorly from outside, but Embiid’s rim protection and defensive presence also gave the Sixers a boost when the Bulls blew through the first level of defense. His ability to grab-and-go with the rebound caused distress for Chicago — when you load up to slow down the freight train rumbling down the middle of the floor, other guys are going to get clean looks from the wings and corners.

Setting aside what he did for everyone else, Embiid had an opportunity to go against old frenemy Andre Drummond, whose ass he has busted for the duration of their careers. Drummond caused a few problems for Embiid on the glass, but outside of that, Chicago was helpless to stop the onslaught. Embiid showed no signs of rust after a week-plus layoff, dropping midrange jumpers and baseline turnarounds over their heads with ease.

Even a return game for Embiid carries a bit of history with it at this point — the big man turned in his 14th consecutive 30-10 game of the season on Tuesday night, crossing the 30-point threshold with just 1.3 seconds left in the third quarter. The last man to put together 15 such games in a row was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1971-72, and Embiid only has one more to go to match the king of the skyhook, who turned in 16 of those in a row for Milwaukee. Doing it without needing the final period, which has been commonplace in the run, makes it all the more ridiculous.

A different starting look?

With De’Anthony Melton out for this one, the Sixers tried a new starting five of Embiid / Batum / Harris / Oubre / Maxey. It worked so well in this game that we will inevitably drive some conversation about whether they should try it out more often. I wouldn’t read too far into it because, well, you’re not going to shoot like this every night, but it does make you wonder what the Sixers would look like with a slightly bigger starting five.

There are some immediate positive benefits to slotting another wing into Melton’s spot, mostly that the Sixers could make the floor feel smaller for Chicago, pinching in on drives and cuts to clog up the paint. I do think Kelly Oubre deserves some individual credit for his impact on that end of the floor — he shot it quite well on the other end, but his work as the “low man” was also excellent throughout the evening, with Oubre forcing a Bulls turnover or two by flashing into the paint right as a Chicago roller was catching an entry pass.

Oubre and Melton share some similar weaknesses, namely their streaky shooting, though Oubre’s newness and performance in Philadelphia probably have him higher on the public favorability scale. If you’re asking me, Melton is a more consistent and active defender than Oubre, and he’s got a better chance against guards than Oubre does on a good night, so I’d stick with the status quo. But even if I wouldn’t change their normal rotation right now, I do think it’s worth tinkering with some bigger wing looks like this in advance of the playoffs.

(At the very least, ride the hot hand if Oubre is cooking.)

Hello, Jaden Springer

If it feels like it has been a while since we got regular Jaden Springer minutes, you’ve been watching the Sixers over the last couple of months. Springer has been so far down the pecking order that the Sixers have sent him to the Blue Coats multiple times in the last month, with the organization thinking he simply needs reps.

These were low-pressure minutes in a game that was never close, but you saw plenty of good things out of Springer against Chicago. When he checked into the game near the end of the first, he made his presence known immediately, ripping a rebound out of Andre Drummond’s hands before laying it off to Danuel House Jr. for an easy dunk. Springer’s athleticism flashed all night long — you don’t see many guys get up high enough to reject a shot with both hands, which gave some extra juice to this chase-down block:

Outside of the chaos he causes as a rebounder, the offense remains a work in progress for Springer. You can’t really “effort” your way out of a questionable jumper, and when he has played this season, Springer has just looked lost at sea in halfcourt sets. Until/unless that changes, he’s going to find it tough to crack the rotation.

Harris can attack with Embiid healthy?

I for one am stunned at this development. Do you mean to tell me that a $40 million player who gets touches throughout a game is capable of asserting themselves with Embiid and Maxey both on the court? Witchcraft, I tell you.

Snark aside, I liked the proactive work Harris did when he was away from the ball to try to unstick the offense and get himself looks at the basket. There were a few occasions where the Bulls had a possession locked up, the ball stuck on one side of the floor with no clear outlets. Harris used those opportunities to find the soft spot in the middle of the paint, demanding the ball and finishing before the Bulls realized what was happening.

I also thought the Sixers did an excellent job of hunting mismatches for Harris, whether out of designed sets or by chance mid-possession. Embiid made some excellent hi-lo entries to Harris with guys like Coby White sealed off, leading to easy buckets for No. 12 at the hoop.

A G-League sighting!

The Sixers beat up Chicago so effortlessly that their youth call-ups got a chance to play in the fourth quarter. So if you’re the sort of person who doesn’t spend their free time watching the Delaware Blue Coats, you got a small look at what they have cooking down there.

Kenneth Lofton Jr. had a Boban-esque impact on the crowd that stuck around to watch the end of the game, with every play and touch leading to at least a mini-ovation. The people wanted to see the big boy put the ball in the basket, and he did his best to live up to the reception.

Ricky Council IV is a long way from being a reliable offensive player still, but he competed hard on the defensive end and created a turnover on his first possession there. Not bad!

(Unfortunately, the end of bench guys did not help in the battle for the league’s top net rating. Shame on them.)

Give me Alex Caruso

I would take him on a team I cared about 10/10 times. This dude was lining up to try to take charges from Joel Embiid with his team down 29 points in the second half. He’s a maniacal competitor who would add to this group’s edge on that end of the floor.

(Just don’t look at how he shot in this game. He didn’t throw his hands to the sky when he finally made a three, no idea what you’re talking about.)