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Jamal Collier
CHICAGO — The Chicago Bulls erased a 24-point deficit, the largest comeback win in the NBA this season, to defeat the Philadelphia 76ers on a go-ahead 3-pointer from Nikola Vucevic with 3.2 seconds remaining to seal a 113-111 victory on Tuesday night.
The Bulls continued one of the fastest starts in franchise history, winning a game between two of the teams with the best records in the Eastern Conference on Tuesday. Chicago improves to 6-1, which matches the best start for the franchise since the 2021-22 season, the last time they made the playoffs.
“Tonight was one of the best wins that I’ve ever been a part of,” Bulls guard Josh Giddey said after the game. “Just in terms of how bad we were down that early in the third. And to gut that one out and dig ourselves out of the hole that we did was unbelievable.”
Giddey led the team with 29 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists, recording his second straight triple-double — the first Bulls player in franchise history with consecutive triple-doubles since Michael Jordan. But Giddey praised the way the team responded after falling down big, counting on contributions throughout the lineup.
Vucevic finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds, and six Bulls players finished with double-digit scoring.
“Whenever you come back down 20-something and win the game, it’s big, especially against a team like Philly’s been playing great so far,” Vucevic said. “I think it just showed the resilience we have, the belief we have, the togetherness we have.”
The Bulls have now earned victories over the Knicks, Sixers, Hawks, Magic and Pistons, all would-be playoff teams in the Eastern Conference.
But on Tuesday night, the Sixers controlled most of the first half. They led 45-27 after the first quarter and were ahead by as many as 22 points in the second half. Tyrese Maxey led the way with 39 points and Joel Embiid finished with 20 points in 25 minutes, but shot just 1-of-10 in the second half.
“We have belief,” Vucevic said, “And I think we also were aware that we played really, really bad basketball in the first quarter, especially defensively. I mean giving up 45 points, literally had put up no resistance at all. … And a lot of those things were controllable things that we know we can do better than we’ve done.”
Chicago cut the lead to one with 14 seconds remaining in the game when Bulls coach Billy Donovan called a timeout to set up the final play. Donovan had considered allowing his team to play out the final possession without the stoppage in play, but on the previous possession, with a chance to take the lead, Giddey committed a turnover while driving toward the basket. It made Donovan want to be more organized for the final play call.
However, Vucevic left the huddle not clear on how the play was supposed to unfold.
“Coming out at the timeout, I didn’t really see the last spot Billy put me in,” Vucevic said. “So I asked him like, ‘Hey coach, where do I go after I set the screen?’ He was like, just go to the corner.”
Indeed, Vucevic set up in the corner as Giddey drove to the basket again, and the Bulls guard converted the pass this time — finding Vucevic for a 3 to give Chicago its first and only lead of the night. And while Vucevic was glad the Bulls could celebrate on Tuesday, he also wanted to emphasize to his teammates that they are going to have to be much sharper to keep up the pace from such a fast start.
“It’s also important that we understand this is not how you can become a good team by getting down 20 and then waking up and start to finally play,” said Vucevic, who, in his 15th season, is the oldest player on the team. “We have to play better from the beginning. This game was a great example of what we can be when we play the way we need to.
“So hopefully we can use this as a good learning experience for us and understand that we have to do this for 48 minutes.”