If Monday night was any indication, the Philadelphia 76ers are down and out.
The 76ers fell in a massive blowout to the Chicago Bulls on Monday at the Wells Fargo Center. After at one point building up a ridiculous 50-point lead, the Bulls beat Philadelphia 142-110. It marked the 76ers’ eighth-straight loss, which is now the team’s longest losing streak since 2017.
“We’ve shown no sign of a team that will compete and, you know, we just don’t have the habits of a champion or a playoff-contending team,” Paul George said bluntly, via the Philly Voice’s Adam Aaronson.
Things fell apart for the 76ers in the third quarter, where they managed just 18 points. The Bulls put up 75 points in the first half, which is a season-high for them, and they did it without big man Nikola Vučević and losing Lonzo Ball early. Josh Giddey led Chicago with 25 points and 16 rebounds, and Kevin Huerter finished with 23 points. The Bulls snapped a six-game losing streak of their own with the win, which brought them to 23-35 on the season.
George led Philadelphia with 19 points in the loss. Kelly Oubre Jr. added 19 points and eight rebounds, too. They now hold a 20-37 record, which is better than just three teams in the Eastern Conference.
Now in Philadelphia’s defense, it was down several players on Monday night. Justin Edwards, Eric Gordon, Kyle Lowry and Jared McCain were all sidelined with various injuries. Joel Embiid was out, too, and it doesn’t sound like he’s going to come back any time soon. The star, who was held out of the end of Saturday’s loss, was ruled out of Monday’s game and met with specialists for his lingering knee injury — which has limited him to just 19 games this season.
It’s unclear if Embiid will make a return this season or not. He is set to undergo more testing Tuesday on his left knee, which simply hasn’t progressed in its healing all year.
“He did have some testing earlier today, which ruled him out for tonight’s game,” 76ers coach Nick Nurse said before the game, via ESPN. “There’s still further testing tonight even yet today and continuing tomorrow, and that’s where we are.”
Even if Embiid makes it back on the court, the 76ers have a lot of work to do to turn this season around. With how Monday night went, and George’s comments, it may simply be too late.
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