November 7, 2026 at 5:15 AM UTC
Pregame Analysis76ers' Star Power Meets a Bulls Team Hoping for Size
Philadelphia's 8-1 start gives it the edge in Chicago, though the Bulls have a few openings to test it.
This page is the pregame analysis. The box score is the main page for the game, and the matchup history collects every meeting between these teams.
Philadelphia arrives in Chicago with the league's best record at 8-1, and the new-look group has meshed quickly under Nick Nurse. LeBron James and Jaylen Brown have fit alongside Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey without much of an adjustment period. The starters lead the NBA in assists at 22.8 and rank second in points at 88.9, which suggests the ball is moving and the scoring is coming from several places.
That is the problem for the Bulls. Brown scored 30 and Embiid had 26 points and 15 rebounds in a 112-106 win over Detroit. James nearly recorded a triple-double in that stretch, and Maxey leads the team at 28.0 points per game. Chicago has to account for several creators at once. The Sixers also showed they can recover from a bad start, erasing a 29-point deficit to beat Cleveland 114-106 in their Oct. 22 opener.
Chicago's openings are real but narrow. Philadelphia's starters rank 25th in made threes at 7.2 and shoot only about 32% from deep. In the first half of the Nov. 6 game at Cleveland, Embiid started 0-for-7, James had more turnovers than points, and Cleveland led 24-8 in paint points with 10 offensive rebounds. That is only a half of basketball, but it hints at a rim-protection and rebounding vulnerability. Nic Claxton could make his debut after missing all eight games with a hamstring strain. He says he feels ready, though Tiago Splitter has said his minutes will be small at first, so any size help will be limited.
Chicago can make this uncomfortable if it attacks the paint and crowds the Sixers' perimeter. Over 48 minutes, though, Philadelphia's depth of shot creation and its habit of recovering from bad stretches should decide it. I'll take the Sixers, 111-105.