Takeaways from a 127-121 Bulls loss to the 76ers, including Nic Claxton’s debut at center
But in Sunday’s 127-121 loss to the 76ers, Buzelis reset himself through the basics.
Key points
- “Obviously we didn’t come up with the win, but our process was right, so we just got to keep building from that.” Here are four takeaways from the loss: Claxton makes his debut After missing the first eight games of the season with a tweaked left hamstring, Claxton made his introduction to Bulls fans in Sunday’s loss.
- The Bulls gave up an exorbitant 20 offensive boards to the 76ers — which led to 33 second-chance points — entrenching their status as one of the worst defensive rebounding teams in the entire NBA.
- Claxton will be the starting center when he is released from his minutes restriction, but coach Tiago Splitter brought him off the bench Sunday to accommodate his return-to-play protocol.
Barely a minute remained on the clock as the Chicago Bulls trailed the Philadelphia 76ers after spending the better part of the game nipping at the heels of the top-ranked team in the Eastern Conference.
But the Bulls could never carve that lead closer than two points as the 76ers powered their way to a win on the backs of 20+ point performances from their star trio of Maxey, LeBron James and Jaylen Brown.
Additional details
- “We don’t want moral victories, but I think we did a lot of things right tonight,” center Nic Claxton said.
- Splitter said the medical team advised Claxton to stay under 20 minutes in his first game of the season; the center ultimately played 17 minutes and 41 seconds.
- The final five minutes of clutch time against the 76ers showcased how far the Bulls can go with a bit of antagonism from the youngest members of the roster.
- While Claxton scored only four points, he tallied two blocks in his Bulls debut.
- This pairing allowed the Bulls to create a higher level of pressure at the point of attack with a safety blanket of rim protection provided by Claxton.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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