Did Bulls Put Eastern Conference on Notice Beating 76ers, Nets?
Before going to the Wells Fargo Center on Friday night to face the Philadelphia 76ers, the Chicago Bulls hosted the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday night. Coming in on a roll, the Nets searched for their 13th straight win but came up short against Chicago by losing 121-112.
On Friday, the Bulls faced the Sixers, who picked up their 12th straight win over the Bulls back in October. With a standout performance from Zach LaVine, the Bulls were led to their first victory over the Sixers since 2019.
Although they got off to a slow start to the year, the Bulls now have won seven of their last ten games and defeated the Sixers and the Nets, who are viewed as playoff contenders in the Eastern Conference. Do those two wins by Chicago put the rest of the East on notice? Bulls head coach Billy Donovan isn’t celebrating too hard.
“I think we’ve got to keep being consistent,” said Donovan. “Obviously, [the Sixers] were without a great player tonight. We were missing some guys as well. They played really well the other night against Indiana and got an overtime win. They’re really good at home”
Joel Embiid, who is undefeated in 12 games against the Bulls in his career, sat out with a sore foot on Friday night. His absence left the Bulls with an opportunity to find tons of success in the paint early on during the game.
“Brooklyn had been playing extremely well, winning 12 in a row,” Donovan continued. “These are some of the things that we’ve got to go through. Some difficulties early in the year with not playing at a level or a standard that was going to be sustainable against good teams. Hopefully, we can build off of this, and can we come back tomorrow and be consistent? That’s the biggest thing for us. Can we go back tomorrow night? Obviously, it’s a different opponent. There will be different schemes. Just the way we play. Can we come back and play with that kind of intensity? Not so much in the first quarter. We got through that first quarter. It’s one game, and we’re looking for consistency right now. I’m happy with the way the guys played and what they did. Like I said, we’ll leave here, and we’ve got to go play again tomorrow.”
Donovan and the Bulls aren’t satisfied with a two-game win streak, even if they beat top five teams in the conference. As Chicago needs to show signs of consistency, a third-straight win could help them get a better idea of whether they are truly turning a corner — or just having a solid couple of games.
On Saturday, the Bulls are back home to host the Utah Jazz. Then on Monday, another Eastern Conference playoff-caliber squad is on the schedule for the Bulls, as they are set to pay a visit to the Boston Celtics. Whatever transpires over the next couple of days will say a lot about the Bulls.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.
