3 observations after Sixers' offense struggles, road trip ends with loss to Bulls

The Sixers played their worst offensive game of the season in their last action of 2023.

The team set its new scoring low for the 2023-24 campaign Saturday night, falling to a 105-92 loss to the Bulls at United Center.

The Sixers wrapped up their four-game road trip at 2-2 and dropped to 22-10 overall. They finished December with a 10-4 record. Two of those defeats came to the 15-19 Bulls, who they’ll see again on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. 

Tyrese Maxey had 20 points on 8-for-22 shooting and seven assists.

DeMar DeRozan (24 points) and Coby White (20 points) were the Bulls' top scorers. Andre Drummond recorded 15 points and 23 rebounds.

Joel Embiid missed his fourth consecutive game with a right ankle sprain. Jaden Springer was also out because of an illness. 

Chicago's Zach LaVine, Nikola Vucevic and Torrey Craig were sidelined. 

Here are observations on the Sixers' defeat Saturday in Chicago:

Reed and Drummond square off

Drummond spun baseline past Paul Reed and laid the ball in for the game’s opening basket. A Patrick Williams three-pointer put Chicago up 9-2. 

Reed drained an early corner jumper that the Bulls let him fire, though his foot was on the three-point line. As far as true long-distance shots, the Sixers had a very rough start on the second night of a back-to-back. They missed their first nine three-point tries, including a Kelly Oubre Jr. air ball. De’Anthony Melton had a quick trigger and came up empty on a few contested looks. Drummond was happy to snag many of those wayward shots, grabbing nine defensive rebounds in under nine minutes. 

Still, Reed did decent work overall against his former teammate. He was appropriately physical and wary of Drummond’s offensive rebounding prowess while stopping short of anything that would’ve created foul trouble. Reed also picked up three early steals, a block, and a drawn offensive foul on Drummond. 

While Drummond tends to be prolific on the glass, the Sixers didn't lose Saturday because of the starting center matchup. Reed actually had four offensive boards to Drummond's three.

Sixers keep winning the turnover game, but offense subpar in Chicago

The night after scoring 42 points in Houston, Maxey began 1 for 7 from the floor and got whistled for his second foul late in the first quarter. Alex Caruso and Jevon Carter had a nice tag-team stint in which they played pesky defense, applied full-court pressure on the Sixers’ guards, and made every pass effortful. 

The Sixers focused early in the second quarter on setting high ball screens for Maxey and getting him favorable switches. Maxey followed up a career-best 14-for-15 game at the foul line by misfiring on his first two free throws. He still caught some of his usual second-quarter wave, posting 10 points in the period. The 23-year-old found a relatively comfortable shot for himself when he made an Iverson cut to the left wing, rejected a Reed ball screen and nailed a three that gave the Sixers a 32-31 lead.

However, the Sixers generally didn’t have much movement or cohesion in the half court on plays where Maxey or Tobias Harris were unable to beat their man in isolation. They somewhat mitigated those issues by earning a significant turnover advantage for a fourth straight game.

Over this trip, the Sixers forced 64 turnovers and committed just 36. Melton’s third steal of the third quarter led to an uncontested Maxey fast-break layup. 

The Sixers' evening was relatively low on easy points and high on frustration, though. They shot 9 for 38 from three-point range. Harris' three made free throws were the most by any Sixer.

Batum back, Covington out of second-half picture

Nicolas Batum was back for the Sixers after sitting out the past five games because of a right hamstring injury. Oubre stayed in the Sixers’ starting lineup and Batum was one of six men to enter off the bench before garbage time.

He made the Sixers’ first three of the night, drilling a left-corner shot late in the first quarter. Batum later hit one of his signature zero-dip, ultra-fast release jumpers right before the shot clock expired. 

Mo Bamba served as the Sixers' backup center for most of the game and didn't have a strong performance. Terry Taylor, who’s listed at 6-foot-4, beat him to an offensive board and scored a put-back layup late in the third quarter. 

Sixers head coach Nick Nurse than opted to play a veteran frontcourt of Marcus Morris Sr. and Batum. The initial returns from that unit were encouraging. Morris canned a mid-range jumper and Batum found KJ Martin cutting along the baseline for a dunk that cut the Bulls' lead to 80-75. Chicago called timeout.

Bulls head coach Billy Donovan re-inserted Drummond, though Nurse kept the same lineup on the floor and used Morris against the Chicago big man. Those two were soon in the spotlight when Morris' box-out on Drummond was adjudged a foul, he objected to the call, and the officials assessed him a technical. The Sixers' momentum fizzled out.

Robert Covington played a mere five minutes, none in the second half. Covington wouldn't have solved all the Sixers' problems Saturday, but there's certainly been some games and moments where it's been curious to see him outside of Nurse's rotation.

The 33-year-old is a rangy defender who habitually tallies deflections and steals. He also possesses helpful versatility, including small-ball center experience.

Covington is 0 for 7 from three-point range over his past eight appearances, which has hurt his value a tad; everyone's better when they're making jumpers. With that said, he understands the essence of his job offensively is to take catch-and-shoot threes, cut and space sensibly, and do whatever else supports the Sixers' stars. And he's a player who can frequently make positive contributions without scoring.

The Sixers' depth means Nurse often has hard choices on his hands, and he's obviously made many good ones so far. It'll be interesting to see how he handles Covington's role once Embiid's back.