Joel Embiid had 43 points and 14 rebounds, and the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Chicago Bulls 121-106 Monday night in a showdown between two of the Eastern Conference’s top teams headed in opposite directions.
James Harden added 16 points and 14 assists, and Tyrese Maxey added 17 points for the 76ers, who have won six of seven and stayed perfect with Harden in the lineup. Embiid, the league’s leading scorer, made 15 of 27 field goals and 12 of 16 free throws. The MVP front-runner scored at least 40 points for the 10th time this season while upping his season average to 29.7 points per contest. Zach Lavine scored 24 points for the Bulls and DeMar DeRozan added 23 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulls, who have lost five in a row.
The Bulls have had trouble against the conference’s elite and dropped to 0-9 versus Miami, Philadelphia and Milwaukee – the three teams ahead of them in the standings. Philadelphia began play tied with the Bucks for second in the East, three games back of the Heat. The 76ers ended the season series with Chicago with a four-game sweep.
The 76ers improved to 5-0 with Harden since the blockbuster deal at the trade deadline that sent Ben Simmons to the Nets in exchange for the 2017-18 MVP. Harden sat out Philadelphia’s 99-82 loss at Miami on Saturday to rest his hamstring. He is averaging 24.6 points, 12.4 assists and 7.4 rebounds as a 76er.
