Better Late or Too Late?

James Harden, now of the 76ers, has made a career out of fooling refs into calling fouls on defenders he flops into. It happened again last night, this time to the Bulls’ Patrick Beverly. But the last laugh came at Harden’s expense with the clock running down in double overtime. Harden drove to the basket for what would have been a game-tying layup, only to be rejected by Derrick Jones Jr.; amazingly, Jones had just come in off the bench. Of course, Harden whined that Jones had fouled him, but that didn’t stop the Bulls from pulling off their third straight win, 109-105. Not only that, the visitors beat Joel Embiid for the first time ever. Previously, the 76ers were 12-0 against the Bulls when their star center played. I should also mention here Philadelphia came in with an eight-game winning streak. There are teams where the sum is greater than the parts, or the parts greater than the sum. The Bulls fall into a category all their own, just parts. On offense, the only person moving, maybe, is the person with the ball; everyone else is frozen in place, miles from the basket. On defense, well, some days Zach LaVine and company play it, other days they don’t. Last night, they did. This is a home-and-home series against Philadelphia, with tomorrow night’s game at the United Center. Beat the 76ers twice in a row with Embiid in the lineup, and the parts might finally be adding up to something.