Bulls fall to 76ers and Joel Embiid after yet another slow start

Since the last week of training camp, guard Zach LaVine has barely practiced.

LaVine has taken part in several shootarounds, done some light shooting on his own and played in only four of the first seven regular-season games, including the Bulls’ 114-109 loss Saturday to the 76ers.

So expecting the starting unit to be anything close to a well-oiled machine is a fairy tale.

And there isn’t a good solution on the horizon.

As long as LaVine is under his left-knee-management schedule, the on-again, off-again situation doesn’t do anything for team chemistry or for optimizing the offensive and defensive packages.

Coach Billy Donovan has admitted that and so have the players.

Even DeMar DeRozan acknowledged that it’s less than ideal, but he was banking on the long game. According to DeRozan, if the Bulls can weather having LaVine as a part-time teammate for the time being, there’s a payoff down the road.

“It’s tough, but it’s going to make us better at the same time,’’ DeRozan said. “Other guys get the opportunity to play, get experience, get reps, that next-man-up mentality. The most important thing is having [LaVine] in the long run, and we all understand that. As long as he gets better and gets stronger, and we continue to tighten up things when we don’t have him, it’s just going to make us that much better down the line.’’

Until then, however, there are going to be more growing pains as they try to figure all of this out. That means more inconsistent quarters in games.

That has been evident at the start of games — with or without LaVine. First quarters have been the Achilles’ heel, especially defending against three-pointers.

Philadelphia (3-4) was the latest team to take advantage of that, building a 36-22 lead and doing it with a 5-for-9 shooting clinic from three-point range.

“The first quarter . . . actually after the first quarter, the three-point line has been relatively even on shooting percentages,’’ Donovan said. “Outside of Indiana, you look at the first quarter, and teams have been shooting an astronomical percentage. We’ve got to do a better job starting the game. We’ve got to have better awareness and recognition on some of these situations.’’

Practicing and playing together on a more consistent basis might help, but that’s just not possible right now.

Case in point: The plus-minus marks of the starters in the first quarter were all on the minus side, with LaVine a minus-13.

The Bulls (3-4), however, have been good at making halftime adjustments and playing stellar basketball in the third quarter.

They did it in the season opener against the Heat, earlier this week against the Celtics, then again against the 76ers, outscoring them 31-26 in the third to make it a game.

A first-half 19-point laugher became a nail-biter, and the game would stay that way throughout the fourth.

That was until Joel Embiid had something to say about it. The big man made a three-pointer with 18.1 seconds left to break a tie after a miss by LaVine. The Bulls missed two opportunities to cut into the lead, and the “Embiid Curse’’ could not be broken. He improved to 12-0 lifetime against the Bulls.

“To me, the disappointing part of the game was you’re trying to climb out of 19 points,’’ Donovan said. “We’ve shown it, but we’ve got to do it more consistently.’’