High-flying 76ers out to make the most of struggling Bulls

Tyrese Maxey and the Philadelphia 76ers are showing that no deficit is too large to overcome.

Following a series of impressive comebacks this season, Maxey and the Sixers would love to enjoy a more comfortable victory Monday night when they host the Chicago Bulls.

Philadelphia’s most recent come-from-behind effort came Saturday as the team rallied from a seven-point deficit with just over three minutes left in a 109-104 win over the Charlotte Hornets. Maxey scored a season-high 38 points for the Sixers, who played without LeBron James and Joel Embiid on the second half of a back-to-back.

James and Embiid are expected to play Monday.

“No matter what’s happened so far, we just keep staying with it and playing,” said coach Nick Nurse, whose team improved to 6-1 on the new season.

In addition to Maxey’s strong effort, Anfernee Simons recorded 19 points off the bench and Jaylen Brown chipped in with 16 points. VJ Edgecombe added 10 points, including a clutch 3-pointer in the final minute.

“He’s done quite a bit of that in his short career,” Nurse said of Edgecombe, who also made a dagger 3-pointer in Friday’s win over the New York Knicks. “Obviously two in a row that were huge.”

Another pleasant surprise for the Sixers was Dean Wade’s career-high 10 assists in 30 minutes.

“He did a great job of finding that window and making the next play,” said Nurse, adding “tonight the ball found him more than normal, probably, but he made the right plays with it.”

Meanwhile, Chicago has dropped four games in a row and sits at 1-5. Most recently, the Bulls absorbed a 125-111 loss to the Boston Celtics on Friday, despite 23 points from rookie Caleb Wilson and 16 from Norman Powell.

“I just feel like we laid down,” Wilson said, bluntly. “I feel like there just wasn’t a competitive spirit. We’re young, and that’s going to be our advantage the whole year. If we’re not going to play hard, it’s not going to work. We’re going to lose every game.”

The Bulls’ issues against the Celtics included shooting, both from the field (38%) and the 3-point line (15 of 50). The team also committed 16 turnovers after turning it over 24 times in a 35-point loss to the Celtics earlier in the week.

On the bright side, Chicago outrebounded Boston 51-41, including 20 offensive boards.

“The X’s and O’s of execution offensively, that takes time,” Powell said. “But (rebounding) effort, that’s something that happens immediately.”

Defensively, Chicago has surrendered at least 124 points in every game. The team has allowed 129.3 points on average, ranking last in the league entering November.

“We can’t choose when we want to play,” said coach Tiago Splitter, whose team is in the midst of a stretch of 10 straight games against teams that won at least 45 games last season. “We’re a young team. We’re coaching them, but there’s a lot of things that we’ve got to get better.”

This is the first of four meetings between the teams this season, including a matchup in Chicago next Sunday. The Bulls won both home encounters with the Sixers in 2025-26 before losing 157-137 when the teams met in Philadelphia.

–Field Level Media