1st Place Sixers win 6th Straight behind Embiid, Shooters

These Sixers just keep finding ways to win. With their rotation whittled down to just 8 against a Bulls team that’s pretty obviously good, they pushed all the right buttons while outsourcing Chicago 15-6 to close out the game and deliver them their league leading 8th win on the year. They’re alone on top of the East yet again after winning 6 straight games. And like most recent Sixers wins, it was lead by one man.

Embiid is back to form

The all world big man didn't have a 'bad' start to the season, he was too good on defense for me to say that. But he was clearly not himself on offense, and his lingering knee injury probably didn't help. But he was every bit of himself tonight, with his second 30 point outing and his first game shooting above 50% from the field. He finally looked like himself and put an exclamation point on this one by hitting the dagger three then waving to Chicago's Faithful. More of this, please.

The Role Players are ... good?

Nothing hurt the Sixers more last year than their bench lineups bleeding points in the playoffs and throughout the regular season. But absolutely none of that is present this year. Georges Niang is a capable stretch 4 who is shooting nearly 40% from deep and can hit clutch threes. Furkan Korkmaz signed a three year contract and is suddenly shooting 42% from three and isn't a bad playmaker. Shake Milton is even shooting better and Seth Curry is continuing his torrid playoff stretch. In the off-season, Daryl Morey counted on improving around the edges in free agency and in house development. He's gotten every bit of that, and the results can be seen in the standings.

They just keep winning

Because of a combination of hurt feeling, hamstrings and COVID protocols, the Sixers were without Tobias Harris, Danny Green, Ben Simmons, Isaiah Joe and Matisse Thybulle. That's over half of their rotation gone against a 6-2 team. But Paul Reed, Tyrese Maxey, Shake Milton and Furkan Korkmaz made the 8 man rotation irrelevant, and all 8 played with just as much effort as a G-Leaguer fighting for a roster spot would. The team clearly likes each other, and in a marathon season team chemistry is pretty important.

Up Next: After an NFL Sunday off, Philadelphia welcomes the New York Knicks and looks to avenge their only loss on the season.