By: Kylan Watson

After losing in embarrassing fashion to the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night, the Philadelphia 76ers faced the Cleveland Cavaliers for the final time in the 2024-25 NBA regular season. Both teams traded baskets throughout this contest, but the Sixers were able to use a fourth quarter explosion to beat Cleveland 132-129 and end their seven-game losing streak.

For the second straight game in the row the Sixers found their offensive rhythm early in this contest. Tyrese Maxey scored 14 of his 29 points in the first half and Cleveland could not stop him. It did not matter if they were sending a single defender or multiple at him, he was able to find the bottom of the basket. Over the past few games, he has been letting the game come to him instead of forcing it and it created multiple scoring opportunities for himself and his teammates. Maxey continuing to play like this will add another dimension to the Sixers offense which has been improving game by game.

Despite the Maxey scoring explosion the Cleveland Cavaliers battled their way back into this contest. Donovan Mitchell (37 points), Ty Jerome (33 points), and Darius Garland (26 points) combined for 96 of Cleveland’s 129 points. The trio continued to keep their team in this game and in front of Philly throughout most of this game. Jerome could not miss from the three-point line. He made all 8 of his three-point attempts and Philly had to put Kelly Oubre Jr. (22 points) and Paul George on him to force Jerome to make harder shots and once that happened Cleveland’s offense slowed down.

That defensive pressure forced the Cavaliers to turn the ball over and allowed Philly to get easy opportunities to put points on the board. Paul George also found his offensive rhythm in the third quarter, he scored 30 points in this contest and made 6/11 three-pointers in this game. This was one of George’s best overall performances of the season so far, and if he continues to play like this the Sixers will finally be able to build some consistency heading into the All-Star break.

George being used as the primary ball handler has continued to be one of the best offensive weapons for the Sixers. His skillset creates high percentage shooting opportunities for his teammates or attack the paint for himself like he did tonight. He attacked the paint in this game and that opened free throw opportunities for him and is something he needs to do more of throughout this season.

This is one of the best wins of the season for the Sixers and may end up turning the season around for them. They will need to continue to play like this if they want to build momentum throughout the rest of this season.

The Sixers will now prepare to face the Chicago Bulls tomorrow night. Philly will need to force the Bulls to take well-contested shots and limit them to one possession. They cannot afford to give Chicago multiple opportunities to find their offensive rhythm. Philly will also need to win the rebounding battle and cash in on their high-percentage scoring opportunities.

Implementing these things into their game plan for tomorrow night should put the Sixers in great position to win their 17^th game of the season.