By: Kylan Watson

After falling to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday evening, the Philadelphia 76ers had another opportunity to redeem themselves against Cleveland. Both teams traded blows in this game, and the Cavaliers erased an 11-point Sixers lead to beat Philly 117-115 thanks to an Evan Mobley dunk.

Unlike Wednesday night the Sixers found their offensive rhythm early and often throughout this contest. Joel Embiid scored 13 of his 33 points in the first quarter, Philly needed every point he could give them in this contest as they were able to secure a double-digit lead over the Cavaliers who would not go away in this contest. For the Sixers, the difference in this contest was the non-Embiid minutes and despite a dominant performance by Embiid the Sixers could not put Cleveland away when he was on the bench.

The 2025-26 76ers are a very deep squad and the second unit continues to not put teams away in contests and that came back to bite them in this game. Besides Quentin Grimes (14 points) and Kelly Oubre Jr (12 points) no one else showed up from that unit, the bench unit needs another player to step up and help keep the team competitive during those non-Embiid and Maxey minutes because not winning or at least keeping those minutes competitive cost this team another game. Nick Nurse has started staggering Paul George, Tyrese Maxey, and Embiid but so far this strategy has not been rewarded yet. The Sixers either need that player to reveal themselves or find one on the trade market or on the waiver wire or continue to watch their bench cost them games and pivotal seeding position in the wide-open Eastern Conference.

To Cleveland’s credit despite a dominant Embiid night, they fought back in this contest and made the Sixers win the game which they just could not do in this game. Jaylon Tyson (39 points and made 7/9 three-pointers in this contest), De’Andre Hunter (16 points) and Mobley (15 points) combined for 70 of The Cavs’ 117 points which helped them steal this game from the Sixers and take three games from them this season with one game left in their season series. Cleveland is a dangerous team and right now the Sixers need to do some soul searching because they will have to face them again and will probably see them in the postseason.

Additionally, the Sixers late game defensive execution left a lot to be desired they over helped on a Tyson drive and left Mobley wide open for the game winning dunk in this game. Philly did not do enough to take the Cavaliers out of this game despite shutting down Donovan Mitchell in this contest they still lost because of bad execution late in a game. The Sixers must stick to whatever the defensive plan is late in the game and execute it, they lost a game that Mitchell was a non-factor in and there is no justification for that.

Now they need to make the most of having the weekend off to practice, get their minds right, and prepare to face the Indiana Pacers on Monday night. Another game that will not be easy for them, but they will have to limit their turnovers, stay connected to their defensive assignments, and cash in on the high-percentage scoring opportunities they create from their ball movement. Implementing these things into their game plan on Monday will put them in great position to win their 23^rd game of the season.