LOS ANGELES (AFP) — The Chicago Bulls withstood a 40-point double-double from Philadelphia star Joel Embiid on Monday to snap the 76ers’ six-game National Basketball Association winning streak with a 108-104 victory.
Coby White scored 24 points and Nikola Vucevic added 23 for the Bulls, who saw a 12-point lead to start the fourth quarter whittled to one point on Tyrese Maxey’s three-pointer with 33.2 seconds remaining.
DeMar DeRozan, who finished with 15 points, drained a trio of free-throws to give Chicago some breathing room, and reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Embiid came up empty on two possessions in the waning seconds.
Embiid added 14 rebounds to notch his 11th straight game of at least 30 points and 10 rebounds, but the Sixers could not maintain the momentum after racing to a 16-4 lead in the opening minutes.
“I think we kind of forgot our fundamentals,” Embiid said.
“I thought we made a pretty good run. We came back in the game… we had opportunities, we came back. We fought. Just came up short.”