Joel Embiid’s 43 points power Sixers to 121-106 victory over Bulls

Joel Embiid drove baseline, threw down a one-handed dunk and scowled, an appropriate celebration for the thunderous jaunt to 40 points about midway through Monday’s fourth quarter against the Bulls.

Embiid was back in MVP form with 43 points and 14 rebounds — while teammate James Harden complemented with 16 points, 14 assists, and 8 rebounds — to propel the Sixers to a 121-106 victory over the Chicago Bulls Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

“Jo had it going the whole night, which obviously makes the game a little easier for everybody,” Harden said.

The win capped a 4-0 regular-season sweep for the Sixers (40-24) over the Bulls (39-26), who could be a playoff opponent. It was also the Sixers’ sixth win in their past seven games leading into a much-anticipated home contest against Brooklyn on Thursday. It was the Bulls’ fifth loss in a row to continue their slide down the tightly packed Eastern Conference playoff standings.

The Sixers created separation in the third quarter, with a 10-0 run that turned a 68-61 lead into a 17-point advantage. Then, when the Bulls sliced that lead to 90-83 on two DeMar DeRozan free throws early in the fourth, the Sixers answered with two Georges Niang three-pointers and a Harden driving layup to rebuild a 13-point cushion.

Despite the win, an unprompted Sixers coach Doc Rivers ran through a list of areas in which his team must be better. The Bulls collected 14 offensive rebounds, which they turned into 18 second-chance points. Chicago totaled 16 fast-break points. And Rivers described the Sixers’ offense as “sloppy” and “stagnant” at times.

“We have to figure that out,” Rivers said. “We will. Like we say every day, we are a team that is progressing [and] getting better, but we’re not there yet.”

Harden grimaced with the ball at the top of the key late in the second quarter, after Embiid could not corral his advance pass in stride and had to kick it back out to the three-point line. The ball, though, still wound up in Embiid’s hands for a jumper that put the Sixers up 59-53.

The sequence illustrated that Embiid and Harden are still figuring out their chemistry less than two weeks into their partnership. But both players remain dangerously effective through any growing pains.

Harden jolted the crowd when he screamed after burying a vintage step-back three-pointer late to give the Sixers a 34-29 advantage late in the first — which also tied him with Reggie Miller for third on the NBA’s all-time list in three-pointers. As soon as Embiid checked back in with less than eight minutes to play in the second, Harden immediately delivered a bounce pass to the big man for a finger roll. Harden found Embiid again for a one-handed dunk to push the Sixers’ lead to 77-61 about midway through the third, part of his 19-point explosion on 7-of-10 shooting in that period.

It was Embiid’s NBA-best 10th game this season with at least 40 points and 10 rebounds, and a terrific bounce-back performance following two tough nights against Cleveland and Miami over the weekend.

“I’ve been hanging out at the three-point line a lot, instead of living in the paint,” Embiid said. “So tonight, I tried to make adjustments of really short rolling. Especially when we had [a first-half] turnover, I told [Harden] that, tonight, I’m just rolling to the basket. I don’t want to pop. I don’t want to stay out at the three-point line. I just want to either short roll or fully roll, so it creates wide-open shots for other guys …

“[I tried] to get back to myself and dominating, like I’ve been doing all season.”

Embiid’s and Harden’s efforts were also needed on a night Tyrese Maxey struggled from the floor (6-of-13 for 17 points) until late, when he flipped in a layup through contact and hit a corner three-pointer that gave the Sixers a 111-94 lead with less than five minutes remaining. Instead, Matisse Thybulle, who got easy looks at the basket through screening and rolling for Harden, and Niang, who fired away from deep, were the complementary offensive threats with 12 and 14 points, respectively.

The Bulls’ All-Star tandem of DeRozan (23 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists) and Zach LaVine (24 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists) were a combined 15-of-37 from the floor. Rivers called Tobias Harris’ defensive performance “as good as you’re going to get on DeRozan” and praised his team’s “exhausting” trapping efforts and Embiid’s activity to come out to the three-point line.

With Paul Millsap out Monday for personal reasons, new signee DeAndre Jordan was the backup center and finished with 2 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists in 10 minutes in his Sixers debut.

Shortly after entering late in the first quarter, Harden floated a lob to Jordan, but he missed the dunk. Yet on the Sixers’ next possession, he corralled an offensive rebound and dished to Danny Green for a three-pointer that put the Sixers up 37-32. In the second, he was not ready for a pass in the lane from Harden but still collected the ball, drew a foul, and hit both free throws.

Early in the fourth quarter, Jordan tipped an Isaiah Joe missed three out to Niang for the three that put the Sixers back up double digits and then swatted a Derrick Jones layup attempt on the Bulls’ ensuing possession.

“You can see his length, his ability to roll, his ability to block shots,” Rivers said. “That’s something we need.”

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After starting Saturday’s loss in Miami in Harden’s absence, Furkan Korkmaz did not play against the Bulls.

Instead, Shake Milton was the first guard off the bench and finished with three points in 14 minutes. Joe also got 11 minutes and hit a key fourth-quarter three-pointer after missing his first three shots.

“He’s just been working,” Rivers said of the decision to give Joe minutes. “And Furk’s been up and down. I just thought it was time to give Isaiah a shot.”

Other than that, the Sixers’ first-half rotation was similar to its first four games with Harden. Niang was the first sub for Harris, and helped ignite the Sixers’ first-half surge by drilling back-to-back threes off feeds from Harden. Thybulle and Green primarily replaced each other, but they did get a short stretch sharing the floor in the second quarter before Thybulle picked up his third foul.

Green, however, did not play in the second half because of a left finger laceration. That led to Harris and Niang sharing the floor with Harden on the bench late in the third.