By: Kylan Watson
After beating the Toronto Raptors on Monday night, the Philadelphia 76ers faced the Cleveland Cavaliers for the second time this season after a long road trip. The Cavaliers dominated the Sixers from the opening tip off thanks to their explosive backcourt who led them to the 133-107 victory over the Sixers.
The first home game after a long road trip is always rough and the Sixers fell victim to it once again, as they started this game slowly and not being able to find the bottom of the bucket. Cleveland took full advantage of the early power outage from Philly, and by half-time were up by 16 plus points over them. Donovan Mitchell (35 points, made 5/12 three-pointers, and had 9 assists in this contest) Darius Garland (20 points, left game in third quarter with lower leg injury) combined for 55 of Cleveland’s 133 points. They did enough to keep the Sixers at bay in this game and Philly just could not slow either one of them down in this game. The Sixers defenders did not stay connected to their man and both players were able to find the holes in the defensive scheme, to either put points on the board or create a high-percentage scoring opportunities for their teammates.
Despite the scoring explosion from Cleveland’s backcourt duo, Philly still had multiple chances to get back in the game and take it from the Cavs. However, the Sixers just could not make anything from the field tonight in this contest, especially from the three-point line they only made 12/43 three-pointers in this contest (27.9% from three-point range). That will not win many games for you and the Sixers could not create more possessions because of Cleveland’s length. They were outhustled by the Cavaliers throughout this game and still had a chance until Mitchell put on that finishing push to end Philly’s hope at a comeback.
One of the only bright spots for the Sixers in this game was Joel Embiid (13,000 career points in this game) continued to look like himself he scored 20 points in this game and probably would have scored more if he played in the fourth quarter. He led a third quarter comeback attempt that cut Cleveland’s lead to single digits, but he did not get enough help from his teammates tonight. He continues to round into form but will need his teammates to cash in on the high-percentage shooting opportunities he creates for them.
Everything went wrong for the Sixers in this game, and they will have to play better when they see Cleveland again on Friday night. Tyrese Maxey (14 points) could not get anything positive going in this contest, the Cavaliers effectively shut him down in this game and threw enough defenders at him to tire him out. The length of the Cavaliers clearly bothered him, and he will have to find his rhythm again on Friday night if the Sixers want to beat Cleveland on Friday.
The Sixers will now prepare to play the Cavaliers again on Friday night, they will need to stay connected to their defensive assignments, win the rebounding battle, limit their turnovers, and cash in on the high-percentage shooting opportunities they create off their ball movement. Implementing these things into their game plan on Friday will put them in great shape to win their 23rd game of the season.
