Tobias Harris, Seth Curry Look on the Bright Side of Sixers' Strange Win vs. Bulls

The Philadelphia 76ers have won their last five games. Typically, a team on a five-game win streak would be ecstatic with the successful short-term results -- especially since those victories allowed the Sixers to get a one-game lead in first place within the Eastern Conference.

But 76ers head coach Doc Rivers has felt disappointed in his bench's performance over the last two outings. On Sunday night, the Sixers blew a 17-point lead and allowed the shorthanded San Antonio Spurs to force overtime.

On Monday, the Sixers were 23 points ahead of the shorthanded Chicago Bulls at a point and had to put their starters back out on the floor late in the game as the bench once again nearly allowed a comeback.

“I wasn’t happy,” Doc Rivers stated on Monday night. “That’s two nights in a row that our bench has come in and kind of given up leads. It’s something we can fix. They just didn’t play well, to be honest. I thought as bad as they were defensively, I thought it was on offense where they didn’t have a lot of movement, so we’ll be able to fix that.” 

While Rivers was understandably disappointed in his team's inability to close out the last two games with a comfortable lead, some of his players looked on the bright side of the situation after Philly picked up its fifth-straight win.

“It’s always good to get reps,” said Sixers veteran guard Seth Curry. “You don’t want to have setbacks like we did tonight, but it’s always good to get reps towards the end of the game just to figure out some sets you want to run and just kind of like some good practice for us.”

Curry, who's had many ups and downs this season due to COVID-19 and other physical setbacks, believes that the extra reps have allowed him to improve his stamina towards the end of the regular season. While somebody like Joel Embiid could use extra rest before playoffs, Curry doesn't necessarily see the situation the same for himself -- and neither does Tobias Harris.

“We would love to get the blowout victory, but nonetheless, it was an opportunity for us to come back out and lock in, get stops, and execute offensively," Harris said after the win. “There are positives to take from the game. I thought we did a good job in the fourth quarter last four or five minutes of locking in defensively, getting stops, and then getting to our spots offensively on the floor, and pushing the pace. That was big for us, and we got to continue to do that because, as we know, when we get into the playoffs, there’s going to be tight games that we have to execute on both sides.”

The Sixers will get some much-needed rest on Tuesday after playing in back-to-back games on Sunday and Monday. While it would've been ideal for the team's starters to get a head start on the rest by sitting out in the fourth quarter against the Bulls, they'll have to live with the results and be happy with the win no matter what it took to get it.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_ & Instagram: @JGrassoNBA.