The Philadelphia 76ers came up short on Friday in a 109-102 loss to the Chicago Bulls to begin a 5-game road trip. The Sixers faltered down the stretch as the Bulls made every big play in the fourth quarter in crunch time to come away with a win.

The Sixers received 31 points out of Joel Embiid while Tyrese Maxey added 27 and Paul George added 15 and 12 rebounds, but when the game was in the balance, the Sixers struggled. They shot just 5-for-21 in the fourth and were out-rebounded 18-8 as Chicago took control of the game and finished off the job.

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“Just, when it came down to it, they played harder than us in that last bit of stretch, just defensively,” George told reporters after the loss. “I thought both sides–we got to get better on both ends. Again, I thought we got a little stagnant, which, over the course of the game, made us play a little slower, and I thought they kind of dialed into us late in that quarter, and that was the game.”

Down the stretch of the game, every loose ball ended up in the hands of the Bulls and it allowed Chicago to get extra possessions which led to backbreaking moments in the guts of the game. That allowed the Bulls to finish the job and send Philadelphia to an 0-4 record when the Big 3 play. The Bulls also clinched the tiebreaker over the Sixers as they have now won two of the three matchups on the season.

As far as the Big 3 is concerned, George knows the record. It isn’t good, but the Sixers just have to figure it out. The star trio shot the following from the floor in the fourth quarter:

“It just comes down to us locking in,” George added when asked by reporters about the winless Big 3. “Again, this was a game that we should have closed. A game we should have won. Just comes down to us locking in down the stretch. Again, this is a possessions game, and close the game out. That’s when we need to be at our best.”

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The Sixers will take on the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday to continue the trip.

This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Paul George discusses Sixers faltering vs. Bulls, Big 3 being winless