Sixers Bell Ringer: No Harden and one half of Embiid more than enough for win over Bulls

Sixers Bell Ringer standings
Joel Embiid - 25
James Harden - 17
Tyrese Maxey - 11
Tobias Harris - 5
Shake Milton - 4
Paul Reed - 3
De’Anthony Melton - 2
Georges Niang - 1
Montrezl Harrell - 1
Matisse Thybulle - 1
Jalen McDaniels - 1

For anyone worried we would see a repeat of Monday night’s dismal offensive showing, the Sixers assuaged those fears by quickly jumping out to a 17-0 lead (that then became 23-1). The fireworks continued as Philadelphia would grow the advantage to as high as 30 points in the first half, ultimately ending the half with 76 points and a season-high 28-point lead. They shot 61.9 percent from the field and drained 12 three-pointers — all without James Harden, who took the game off to rest his sore Achilles.

But then, we had the supremely weird situation where Joel Embiid did not come out of the locker room after halftime, and we didn’t hear a peep until there were just a couple minutes left in the third quarter. At that point, we heard he wouldn’t return because of the score differential. If he was getting a DNP Second Half - Rest and wanted to start his post-game treatment early, unorthodox but alright. It’s incredibly strange to wait that long to hear an update, though, if that’s actually all it was. It wasn’t! As it turns out, the Sixers would provide an additional update with the final seconds of the game winding down.

Another hopefully minor thing to worry about, as if we needed more.

Anyway, the Sixers toyed with the idea of letting the Bulls back into the game, but ultimately did a nice job in closing out the 116-91 win. Let’s see the Bell Ringer candidates who were able to stick around for both halves.

Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images

De’Anthony Melton: 25 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 2 turnovers

All hail our newly-anointed Bulls Killer! Fresh off his 19-point, four-steal effort in the loss Monday, Melton was equally effective in Chicago. Like the rest of the roster, De’Anthony got in on the three-point shooting bonanza in the first half, with three of his four makes from downtown coming prior to heading to the locker room. More importantly for the stress levels of Sixers fans, Melton led the charge in the fourth quarter to ensure there was no hint of a comeback flirtation from the Bulls. Over about a four-minute stretch, Mr. Do Something had a pair of steals on back-to-back possessions that led directly to Sixers buckets in transition, and then later scored five points himself on consecutive trips down the court. Rather than the 18-point lead getting whittled down further, it ballooned back up to 28.

Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images

Tobias Harris: 20 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 turnovers

You knew Harris’ usage would tick up in the absence of Harden and the veteran forward delivered in a big way with the increased responsibility. He got off to a hot start with five points in the first couple minutes, and as the game progressed, we saw a good deal of the offense running through Tobias, especially with the second unit. The Sixers ran more post-ups for Harris than we’ve seen in quite some time, and Tobi made the right reads time-and-again to attack or kick out to open shooters. The 3-of-5 from three is a nice night, but standard fare for Harris. A 7-of-8 line at the charity stripe, though, is a season-high for both makes and attempts, while the eight assists were one shy of a season-high. Good for Tobi for taking the increased responsibility given to him and using it well. He certainly filled those near-triple-double shoes of Harden’s.

Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images

Tyrese Maxey: 21 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 0 turnovers

Tyrese cooled off big-time in the second half, but he was a blazing inferno for the first 24 minutes with 16 first-half points. Maxey went 4-of-5 from behind the arc in the first half, also mixing in and couple of those vintage floaters while tasked with more lead ball handler duties. Tyrese has now scored at least 20 points in nine of 12 games during the month of March, shooting 52.1 percent from downtown over that stretch. He’s 22, folks!