The Sixers picked up their first double-digit win of the season against a young Chicago Bulls team after six nail-biters to get off to a 7-1 start to the season.
The Bulls had been able to keep themselves within 10 points for most of the night, but thanks to 26 points from Tyrese Maxey and 25 from Jaylen Brown, the Sixers were able to hit the gas long enough down the stretch to cruise to victory.
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Brown, who missed a game back on Oct. 30 with a knee issue, was able to do so despite feeling some soreness from what he described as a flair up.
"I haven't felt very athletic, like my normal self. I've been feeling a little under the rim, but I felt better today," he said. "I'm looking forward to getting that pop back in my step so I can explode and take off."
What may be even more important was Brown feeling the good vibes from a win that saw the Sixers enjoy some wine and dancing in the process.
Some concern had started to grow over the lack of offensive explosion and their inability to blow out a team in their prior six wins, but the team feels like it's a process that's coming together.
"It's fun, it's a lot of talent, and we like each other, and we're just kind of building that chemistry of how we can get this thing to a well-oiled machine," Brown said. "I think we're taking steps forward every single day. I think we still got a long way to go being like a really solid, great team, but we've been able to win some games. We started off the season 7-1 and you haven't seen our best version yet, so that's a good sign."
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Brown said that what the team has done to build that chemistry quickly is try to complement the infrastructure that was already in place. That infrastructure being the games of Maxey and Joel Embiid.
"[Maxey] and Joel have been here for a while. So the mindset has been to compliment those guys," he said. "I'm finding my footing, but Maxey has been leading the way for sure."
A 7-1 start is a great cushion to allow this melting pot to figure each other out, especially when they're taking out bad teams in the process. The Sixers were able to do plenty of figuring while taking care of the Bulls. They assisted 23 of their first 25 made field goals of the night, and finished the game having assisted 36 of their 48 total field goals.
"I think all of us are trying to make the right plays and be unselfish to some degree. You want to make sure we're playing the right way and sometimes that can cause turnovers because you hesitate," Brown said, "but whatever it is that we do, we got to make sure we don't hesitate, be aggressive, and just play the right way, and you're starting to see it get a little bit better every single game."
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What's been a theme over this hot start is for as wonky as the offense has looked at times, this collection of stars has put their head down and done what it takes to win ballgames. Over the summer, Brown made a note of how much winning he's been a part of since entering the league,
and his new coach has thought the same thing eight games into the experience.
"I thought he was also having fun tonight, which was good to see. But again, I talked about it pregame, the dude is tough, and he wins, and I'll take that all day long," Nick Nurse said. "[The] shot degree of difficulty tonight, some of the ones he hit is also really amazing and I thought he pounded the glass and got some key rebounds. He makes a lot of winning plays, man. He's a winner."
The start to the season has been really encouraging for one simple reason: if they're able to rip off these wins while figuring each other out, just imagine what they can look like once they start clicking.
