Through one quarter of Monday’s duel with the Chicago Bulls, the Philadelphia 76ers stumbled to a 123.1 defensive rating. Thanks to a 137.0 offensive rating, they held a 37-32 lead, but there were clear issues against the NBA’s sixth-ranked offense.
While not the primary culprit of that 32-point period, Joel Embiid had continued a recent stretch of inconsistent execution, a far cry from his peak performance or even the way he began this season with dominant defense. On multiple occasions, he failed to promptly rotate and wall off the rim, allowing easy points inside for Chicago.