When you look at the box score of the Philadelphia 76ers’ Friday night matchup against the Chicago Bulls, the stat line that’s going to stand out is Zach LaVine’s nuclear night.
Draining over 73 percent of his shots from the field and knocking down 85 percent of his threes, LaVine shot efficiently throughout the entire night, getting himself to another 40-plus point performance on Friday.
But Sixers reserve Montrezl Harrell believes that another member of the Bulls was the one who set the tone for Chicago as they got hot in the second half.
“Zach LaVine, he was what, 11-of-13 from three?” said Harrell after the game. “Coby White hit some big-time ones in transition. I think what really kind of set the tone for them was Patrick Williams coming out at half. He came out, hit the first three to five shots, and that kind of spurred them off to a run, and they kind of didn’t look back. We got to fix what we’ve done wrong.”
According to Doc Rivers, Williams’ third-quarter success was a result of the Sixers turning most of their focus to LaVine, who established himself as the hot hand after knocking down all but one of his shots from the field during the first half.
“We were trapping LaVine and just couldn’t get back out,” Rivers explained. “That’s the problem when a guy gets it going, and you have to trap, and especially in the middle of the floor, which I don’t favor. But we were just trying to get the ball out of his hands.”
Philly’s third-quarter gameplan simply didn’t work. After entering the second half trailing by four, the Sixers found themselves trailing by as many as 18 points in the third quarter. LaVine hit on six of his nine shots, with five of them coming from deep to produce 19 points.
Meanwhile, Williams drained all seven of his shots, with two coming from beyond the arc, scoring 16 of the Bulls’ 40 third-quarter points.
LaVine’s 41-point night was certainly the key to Chicago’s dominant win over the Sixers. But Harrell and the Sixers issued credit where it was due, as Williams’ spark in the third quarter got the Bulls going en route to a 126-112 victory over Philadelphia.
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