Well, the good news is Friday’s rematch can’t really go any worse than that.
The Sixers were steamrolled 133-107 by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first of a two-game set Wednesday night.
Tyrese Maxey had
his quietest night of the season, having just 14 points shooting 5-of-16 from the field with four assists. Joel Embiid had his strangest game in some time, leading the Sixers with 20 on 7-of-14 shooting along with six turnovers.
Paul George was quiet outside the second quarter, putting up 17 points shooting 7-of-14 from the field as well. VJ Edgecombe struggled with foul trouble all night, finishing with nine points and three rebounds shooting 3-of-10 from the floor.
Donovan Mitchell led all scorers with 35.
The Sixers had a clean bill of health for the third time in their last four games while Cleveland is currently without Max Strus and Dean Wade.
Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.
First Quarter
- A frenetic start to this one, with each of the Cavs’ four players taking turns to score their first four baskets of the game. George and Edgecombe each hit a tough jumper to start, Embiid hit an early three as well but he had a couple drives in which his attempts to draw a foul left him out of control and he either lost the ball or got a bad shot up.
- That hardly kept pace with Cleveland’s hot start. The Cavs were enjoying a lot of baskets in or around the paint thanks to dribble penetration. Four early offensive rebounds, all of which were converted into second chance points helped that cause quite a bit.
- The Sixers certainly didn’t help matters by turning it over six times in the quarter either, four of those coming from Embiid. Between that and the offensive rebounds, it felt like a Chip Kelly coached football game in how skewed time of possession was. The Sixers didn’t even shoot poorly, hovering over 50% for most of the quarter before falling to 44%, but still fell into a 15-point deficit.
Second Quarter
- PG burying a couple of threes is the exactly start to the second the Sixers needed. While they started the quarter doing better on the offensive glass, they still weren’t deterring the Cavs from getting good looks, making it hard to eat into the lead.
- The Sixers continued to be propelled by George, who capped off his heater by sinking a midrange jumper he threw up after drawing a foul with a rip through move. Embiid got a midrange jumper to fall running a two-man action with George, but something about the big man was just off. A few possessions later he turned the ball over again, simply just coughing it up.
- A timeout really seemed to right the ship for Embiid. He got a couple more baskets to fall, including a drive where he was finally able to beat Jarrett Allen, swatted a layup on the other end, and got a foul overturned via challenge after Evan Mobley accidentally hit him in the face. Knock on wood, but it doesn’t seem like there’s any risk of an orbital bone injury. He scored 10 of their final 13 points of the half as progress was made, but they went cold from three and didn’t score for the last two minutes, allowing the Cavs to push their lead right back to 13 at the break.
Third Quarter
- Hardly a minute into the second half and Dominick Barlow went up for a layup that was blocked by Mobley and had a horrifying fall in the process. He went down grabbing his back area, took some time getting up, and needed a lot of help getting up to go back to the locker room. He was later ruled out with a back contusion.
- Before that, the Sixers didn’t appear to be opening the half with a ton of juice and that didn’t change after the break for injury. All they mustered offensively were a pair of Edgecombe free throws, and a pick-6 dunk after he stole a pass. Meanwhile Mitchell and Darius Garland didn’t miss a beat, darting through the Sixers’ defense with ease.
- A timeout from the Sixers gave a bit of a spark as they knocked down a few shots to rip off an 8-0 run. They tried to keep that intensity coming out of the timeout Cleveland called to counter, picking up the Cavs full court. It worked for that possession as Jabari Walker ripped the ball away from Jaylon Tyson for a fast break dunk. They did allow two layups after moving Embiid off Allen to roam, but a Maxey block and another steal from Walker allowed the momentum to stay with the Sixers. Garland also took quite a shot on Walker’s second steal, he’d also leave the game and go back to the locker room.
- Just like the end of the second, the Cavs were able to respond not only with Mitchell baskets, but also keeping the Sixers scoreless for an extended period of time. Maxey had yet to find a rhythm at any point in the game, and would go possessions at a time hardly getting involved. Kelly Oubre Jr. knocked down a three as the quarter ended that cut Cleveland’s lead to 18.
Fourth Quarter
- Another mini-flurry to start the fourth showed the faintest glimmer of hope. George got all the way to the basket, Quentin Grimes hit his second three of the night, and a fresh-into-the-game Andre Drummond got a baby hook to go. That run, as it was all night, was quickly answered. They didn’t have an answer for Mitchell which seemed to make every Cavaliers’ life easier on defense.
- If there was one positive it’s that this fourth quarter got so bad that the Sixers didn’t bother putting Maxey or Embiid back out there. George and Edgecombe’s nights did not last much longer than that. In other rotation news, Jared McCain only played 3:10 in this one before garbage time, taking one shot that didn’t fall. Whether it’s another stretch in Delaware or just sitting him for a bit, the Sixers need to figure out what they’re doing with him. It’s OK if he doesn’t quite help them win as many games right now, but playing him two minutes a night hurts both him and the Sixers.
