Chicago Bulls vs. Philadelphia 76ers: 3 Takeaways

A Pattern Emerges

The Bulls won tonight in the same way that they’ve pulled out most of their wins: dominating the offensive glass, getting to the free throw line a lot, and shooting passably enough from the field. The Bulls grabbed 11 offensive and 51 total rebounds in Friday’s win; pedestrian numbers for them.

They shot 11-for-26 from the charity stripe, with Jimmy Butler shooting 5-for-6 by himself (he’s averaging 9 attempts per game so far this year). Finally, the Bulls shot 44.4 percent on Friday night, almost exactly hitting their 44.3 average for the year (league average is about 44.7 percent).

Before the season, critics from across the basketball universe talked about how a lack of spacing would suffocate the Bulls offense, and a lack of defensive energy would keep them from making it up on the other end.

But, those critics are holding their tongue as of now because after 16 games, the Bulls have the seventh-best offense in the league and the ninth-best defense, with an offensive rating of 107.0 and a defensive rating of 102.1.