Sixers lack ‘around-the-horn’ help for Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey in loss to Chicago Bulls

Even as the 76ers built another double-digit first-half lead Monday night, coach Nick Nurse was concerned his team was not scoring enough.

Joel Embiid was, of course. The reigning NBA Most Valuable Player was on his way to his fourth 40-point game in December. Tyrese Maxey then caught fire with a 20-point second half, making them the NBA’s highest-scoring duo.

But in the 108-104 loss to the Chicago Bulls, which snapped a six-game winning streak, the Sixers did not get enough of what Nurse defined as “around-the-horn” help from what has normally been a deep and productive complementary roster.

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“It’s different some nights,” Maxey added about finding that scoring balance. “Different lineups. Different situations. Different schemes and coverages that [the defense is] doing. But you’re right, we’ve got to try to get some other guys involved.

“Tobias [Harris], we’ve got to get him more involved. We’re going to need him down the stretch; him, [De’Anthony Melton], everybody else as well.”

A cynic might say this was a rude awakening after the Sixers (18-8) throttled the Eastern Conference’s bottom-dwellers last week — and just before the Minnesota Timberwolves’ top-rated defense arrives at the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday. An alarmist might say this was evidence that the Sixers still need a third star, an interesting conclusion after facing a Bulls team that could move Zach LaVine (who was out Monday with a foot injury) and/or DeMar DeRozan (15 points on 5-of-15 shooting) this trade season. A realist might say this was one clunky game from a team that ranks second in the NBA in offensive efficiency (121.4 points allowed per 100 possessions) when, as Embiid evaluated, the Sixers “forgot our fundamentals” and shot under 40% from the floor for much of the first half.

Regardless, Monday’s loss produced some ugly box-score lines. Harris took just three shots, and was scoreless after one first-quarter three-pointer. Bench sparkplug Kelly Oubre Jr. went 2-of-10 from the floor for six points. Melton and starting forward Nicolas Batum (who did not play in the fourth quarter due to hamstring tightness) went a combined 4-for-9 from the field, including 1-of-5 from beyond the arc.

Yet more troubling to Nurse was that, by his evaluation, even the shots those players did take were too often out of rhythm and early in the shot clock. Embiid added the spacing “wasn’t right” on many possessions. All of this occurred against a Bulls defense that entered Monday ranked 22nd in the NBA in efficiency, but does boast hard-nosed perimeter pests Alex Caruso and Jevon Carter.

“Just too much of a lack of execution on those things,” Nurse said, “which is probably not going to produce a lot of great stuff. … Probably was another pass or another drive to the paint that needed to be made. So I think you kind of got to let it come to you sometimes.”

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The exception was perhaps the fourth quarter, when a reserve-heavy lineup helped unlock Maxey’s 15 points, including a 3-of-5 mark from long range. Nurse even wanted to experiment with playing Embiid and backup center Paul Reed together, before Embiid picked up his fifth foul seconds after reentering the game in the fourth quarter, and Patrick Williams quickly hit a three-pointer on the zone defense the Sixers had shifted into as a result.

Then, it was no surprise the Sixers went to the Maxey-Embiid two-man game down 106-104 with 16.2 seconds remaining. Embiid lamented that he attempted a floater instead of his efficient jumper, and that the ball “just slipped out” of his hands.

Yet the Sixers may not have needed that down-to-the-wire possession if they had gotten more complementary production throughout the game.

“We have a job out there [of] not just getting ourselves going,” Maxey said, “but getting our teammates going, as well. So we’ve got to do a better job of that.”