The Philadelphia 76ers (33-23) played the Cleveland Cavaliers (36-19) with both teams playing on the second night of a back-to-back. The Sixers played the Cavs well enough to lead for a good portion of the game and once again upset them, winning 104-97.
Let's break down the latest weird matchup between the Sixers and the Cavs.
76ers player notes:
Tyrese Maxey: 24 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 9-22 FG shooting
After being one of just two 76ers to show up yesterday, Maxey wasn’t all that good in this game. His shots at the rim weren’t falling with a high frequency and he wasn’t getting a whistle, nor was he on a scorcher from deep. Frustrating as it was for him to not get what he wanted on his drives, he rarely let himself get into a poor, awkward-angled shot attempt.
He stuck with it through the tough Cleveland defense. In the fourth quarter, he came up clutch once again.
Cam Payne: 16 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 6-11 FG shooting
Given an opportunity to play some real minutes, Payne seized it. His mini-outburst in the first half kept the Sixers in the game. Even though he was not nearly as good in the second half, the production he finished with made him one of Philly's key players. That’s what kind of game it was.
Cavs player notes:
Darius Garland: 20 points, 5 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 steals, 6-13 FG shooting
Without his star backcourt mate, Garland orchestrated everything for the Cavs. On top of doing a nice job guarding Maxey, he danced his way into the paint to set up himself and his teammates. His connection with Jarrett Allen, who had 24 points, shined all game long.
Game recap:
The 76ers did not get off on the right foot coming out of the All-Star break. They got pummeled by the New York Knicks, making a solid but fruitless comeback effort as Kyle Lowry provided a bright spot in his team debut. A strong Cavs squad met them on their second game right out of the break. The Sixers surprisingly defeated them in their place not too long ago. Without Donovan Mitchell, they had an improved chance to steal a win from them again.
Kyle Lowry was inactive for this game as he continued to ramp up into competition-level conditioning. De'Anthony Melton made his return after missing the last 18 games and Nico Batum remained active after returning last game, though he was moved to the bench in favor of Kelly Oubre Jr. He ended up being used just for emergencies.
1st half
Oubre put a two-handed dunk down right on Allen's head to start the game off. Both sides were cooking offensively to start, though the 76ers' defensive rotations looked much crisper to start than they did in their previous game. Maxey, in particular, did a nice job stepping in as the low man to help in the paint, recording a pair of early steals. Cleveland made seven of its first eight shots but didn’t jump out to a massive lead, just a small one.
Melton made his return to the court with a little over five minutes left in the opening quarter, receiving a nice ovation from the crowd. He drilled his first shot attempt, a straight-on triple off of a dribble handoff with Mo Bamba. Cam Payne was also an early sub with Lowry out. Ricky Council IV also made an appearance in the opening period after KJ Martin, one of the first subs, picked up a second foul.
Just as he did last time against Cleveland, Bamba was providing some quality minutes. He and Paul Reed did a solid job of contesting shots at the rim. Tobias Harris, fresh off a woeful performance against the Knicks, was more forceful and decisive in this one, recording four points, three boards and three assists in the opening period as the Sixers stayed even with the Cavs.
Harris playing with more aggression did not translate to his shot falling, though. He began the game 2-8, taking the most shots on the team by a solid margin midway through the second quarter. Payne provided a nice spark off the bench with 13 points, making his first four shot attempts and hitting three triples, while Maxey and Buddy Hield had yet to find their footing.
The 76ers maintained a lead thanks in large part to how well they prevented the Cavs from shooting threes. They ran plenty of off-ball screens to free up their shooters but Philly stayed on top of them while also staying alert on dump-off passes to the bigs in the paint. But their own offense wasn’t very good, either.
At the half, the Sixers led 53-50.
2nd half
Although Maxey started to warm up with some strong takes on the right side of the floor, the Cavs kept pushing the pace and moving the ball in the halfcourt. Garland whipped passed back out to shooters with remarkable precision and force, though Cleveland wasn’t taking advantage. Reed picking up his third and fourth fouls, the latter of which put the Cavs in the bonus with just under eight minutes left, made things harder on Philly. But at least Evan Mobley missed his free throws, which meant free Chick-fil-A.
Those misses from Mobley brought the Cavs' free-throw percentage down to 50 percent and allowed the 76ers to grow their lead by multiple possessions. Cleveland made up the deficit with fast breaks, exposing Philly's poor offensive execution and less-than-stellar transition defense. Caris LeVert pitched in some spectacular stops on drive attempts as the Cavs shut off the Sixers' water.
Martin and Harris linked up for a pair of buckets at the rim, with each guy assisting the other, to score Philly's only four points of the final four minutes of the third quarter. The Cavs weren’t much better, though, and they trailed by four heading into the fourth quarter.
After trading a pair of buckets, Payne brutally air-balled a middie from the right elbow. He made up for it with a triple. Melton, after scoring a layup around Allen earlier, drew a foul on a fast break to add another pair of points to the scoreboard. Harris, who had started to find himself on offense after halftime, scored on a tough face-up jumper as Philly stayed ahead.
Cleveland trailed by three with just over three minutes to play. Then, out came SuperMaxey. He instantly doubled that deficit with a step-back triple. He later hit a tough fadeaway jumper from the midrange and then assisted Hield on a triple to put the 76ers up by eight with 31 seconds left.
But not to be outdone, Garland drew a foul on a three, hit all his freebies, stole the ensuing inbounds pass and assisted Max Strus on a layup. Batum made his first appearance of the game to inbound the ball, which he did safely to Maxey, and then was subbed right back out. He hit the free throws and then, after another intentional foul, hit two more. Chants of “Maxey! Maxey!” filled the arena as the All-Star came up huge for his team in crunch time yet again, securing a much-needed win.
Random tidbits:
- You gotta love the NBA scheduling back-to-backs and three-games-in-four-days sequences for teams right after the break. The Cavs had the luxury of flying to Philly after playing in Cleveland last night. It's not an excuse for how they played but it just stinks.
The 76ers are in for a doozy of a game on Sunday afternoon when they host the Milwaukee Bucks. Doc Rivers and Patrick Beverley surely can’t wait to say hello to their former team.
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