Philadelphia 76ers get payback against Chicago Bulls

The Philadelphia 76ers came into the United Center with bad intentions and delivered a massive 116-91 beatdown to the Chicago Bulls. The victory was payback for the 109-105 double-overtime loss that the Sixers suffered earlier this week. As thrilling as that game was, Wednesday's duel was quite the opposite, as the Sixers raced off to 17-0 and 23-1 leads before cruising to the easy win.

Horrendous start

Despite not having ace guard and playmaker James Harden, the Sixers got into a groove early and did not let up. They scored five points in the first 35 seconds, which set the tone for the one-sided affair. Bulls coach Billy Donovan saw that and knew his team was in for a long night.

"The first possession, we turned it over on a made basket. I think we missed a couple loose-ball rebounds that you have to be able to come down with," Donovan said. "I didn't think from a rotation standpoint we were as good or as on point as we were in Philly."

Sixers star Joel Embiid barely got a sweat in as he played just 16 minutes and almost had a triple-double with 12 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, a steal, and a block.

The trend continues

As soon as pundits and Bulls fans had it all figured out, Chicago came out flat and just could not get anything going. After trailing 23-1, the Bulls trimmed the deficit to 10, 36-26, early in the second quarter. However, the Sixers pulled away late in the first half and led 76-48 at halftime.

"We didn't make shots early on, and before you know it, it's 23-1," Zach LaVine said. "Against a team like that, against that deficit, it's going to be tough to crawl back out."

Despite the loss, the Bulls still hold a one-and-a-half-game lead over the Indiana Pacers for the 10th spot.