Sixers-Chicago Bulls takeaways: A schedule loss, James Harden’s struggles, too many turnovers

The 76ers’ grueling schedule might have caught up to them.

James Harden needs to get back on track and healthy. And the Sixers are starting to commit too many turnovers.

These three things stood out in Monday night’s 109-105 double-overtime loss to the Chicago Bulls at the Wells Fargo Center.

One could classify this game as a schedule loss.

Not only was this the Sixers’ fourth game in six nights, it was a game in between seven road games. The team concluded a three-game road trip Saturday night and now travels to Chicago Tuesday to start a four-game road trip on Wednesday.

So the Sixers (48-23) are definitely tired.

“It did a little bit,” Doc Rivers said of the nature of the schedule catching up to the Sixers. “But I still thought we could have won the game. There’s no excuses, especially for execution.

“You can be flat; you can miss shots.”

The Sixers hung in there, defensively. They blocked eight shots, recorded eight steals and benefited a little from the Bulls shooting 7 of 33 on three-pointers. The Sixers had a couple of defensive breakdowns as a result of miscommunication.

“I’ll take our defense the way we played all night,” Rivers said. “I just can’t live with the way we played offense. So we have to fix that. And that’s every night, you just have to be good on both ends.”

On this night, the Sixers were mostly good on the defensive end.

When asked if the Sixers’ offensive woes were the result of fatigue, Joel Embiid said “I’m not sure.”

“It happens,” he said. “You can’t be perfect. You know, you win some, you lose some. I gotta try to keep finding ways to get better.”

Harden produced his second-worst shooting night of the season.

The Sixers standout point guard made just 2 of 14 shots - including missing his six three-point attempts - to finish with a season-worst five points. Harden also tied Embiid for a game-worst five turnovers along with producing a game-high 12 assists and seven rebounds.

Harden’s struggles had more to do with his not playing well than anything the Bulls did defensively.

“I thought he was hurting a little bit,” Rivers said. “I thought our pace was so slow, a lot of late clock possessions. You know when we’ve done that this year, typically we have not won the game. Or if we won the game, it’s [has] been like tonight where it came down to the end.”

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But that’s not how the Sixers want to play. Nor is it how they want to see Harden perform.

Rivers said Harden was hampered by his foot.

The 33-year-old didn’t speak to the media postgame. He moved around gingerly in the locker room and asked for Sixers head athletic trainer Kevin Johnson.

Harden played 46 minutes, 37 seconds and was a game-worst minus-11.

Are the Sixers getting exposed against athletic teams?

They committed 20 turnovers against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday and had 21 against the Bulls. The Bulls are led by standout perimeter players Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan. They had both three steals. Meanwhile, standout center Nik Vucevic had a team-high four.

“I thought our execution all night was awful, awful,” Rivers said. “The first half I don’t think we trust the pass. We’ve been passing the ball so well. We showed a video today of all passes. There were so many plays with guys driving the middle. It was there all night.

“We were trying to get in the paint and make plays, and they were just digging stuff out.”

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The Sixers moved the ball a little bit better in the second half, but never found a rhythm. The entire game the Sixers had too many plays late in the shot clock and often made poor choices.

“They had 24 points off our turnovers,” De’Anthony Melton said. “That’s something we have to cut down. We understand that. But we still should have won. We still could have won.”

Best performance: I had to give this to DeRozan. He was clutch down the stretch, scoring eight of his 25 points in the overtime sessions.

Worst performance: I’m giving this to Harden despite his 12 assists. His turnovers and poor shooting hurt the Sixers.

Best defensive performance: Embiid gets this with a game-high three blocks and one steal.

Worst statistic: This goes to the Sixers’ turnovers.

Best statistic: This goes to the Sixers’ foul shooting. They had 19 of 22 free throws.