Chicago Bulls Are Blown out by Philadelphia 76ers 98-82 in Insignificant Loss

The Chicago Bulls squared off against their third Eastern Conference opponent in the last five games Wednesday night, and for the third time they took the loss as they got pounded by the Philadelphia 76ers 98-82. 

It was pretty clear from the start that the Bulls came to play, but the 76ers came to win. Philadelphia just played with more energy and more intensity on both sides of the ball. This game meant more to the 76ers, who were out to prove they are one of the best teams in the East and not just beating up on little guys. 

They won pretty much every facet of the game. They out-rebounded the Bulls 43-37.  They outshot the Bulls .476-.432. They forced more turnovers than the Bulls. And of course, they outscored the Bulls. 

The Bulls put on a little bit of a surge to start the fourth quarter, but it was way too little and way too late. Make no mistake about it: The 76ers won this game. 

Let's be careful not to exaggerate the significance of that though.

It's pretty clear that this team is suffering without Luol Deng. So many of the little things he does and the big things he does are obviously missing. 

The athletic wings for Philadelphia were just way too much for Kyle Korver to guard. Carlos Boozer was, as usual, getting beat, but Korver isn't as adept with the help defense as Deng. 

On the boards, Ronnie Brewer just isn't as big or strong as Deng, and he is sorely missed on the boards. 

The Bulls are also missing the scoring of both both Richard Hamilton and Deng. Brewer and Korver combined for less than Deng's average alone. 

It's not just the mere impact of not having them on the court, either. Not having them in the rotation is affecting the entire rotation. You have fewer players playing the same number of minutes. Obviously that's going to lead to more tired players, particularly in a season like this. 

That's why it was a good thing to see Tom Thibodeau not "try to win" this one but let Jimmy Butler, John Lucas III and Brian Scalabrine play extra minutes.The Bulls are playing again Thursday night against the New York Knicks, and that energy is better spent against them. 

I'd like to point out here that there's talk about "excuses' when looking to things like Deng and Hamilton being out. It's important to distinguish between "factors" and "excuses." 

It's an "excuse" if you're dismissing the loss itself. It's a factor if you consider what the loss means. It would be completely myopic to tunnel too deep into the "no excuses" logic when taking the significance of these games into account. That's true for the Miami Heat game, and it's true for this game. 

Truthfully, to know how Philadelphia and Chicago stack up against one another you'd have to see them both at full strength, or at the very least, with their starting rotations. Philadelphia was missing Spencer Hawes, their starting center as well. 

That's also not to take anything away from Philadelphia. Their defense is about as close to Chicago's as we've seen. They're aggressive, they recover quickly. They provide excellent help defense. They're deep. All of those things are true. But it's also true the Bulls were without Hamilton and Deng, and that did hurt. 

We'll see what happens Thursday when the Bulls play the Knicks. I expect the Bulls will bounce back. They'll be playing angry as they usually are when they get beat like this. I've also heard a lot of rumblings that Deng will be back, and that should be a huge lift to the Bulls. Expect a big win.