Sixers deliver a battle but fall short on the road against Cavaliers

Keith Pompey, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Dec 21, 2024

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CLEVELAND — For the Philadelphia 76ers, Saturday’s matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers was the first of three consecutive barometer games.

Give the Sixers credit. They played hard and attacked the game from the start. They just couldn’t sustain their high level of play. As a result, Cleveland rolled to a 126-99 victory at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

The Sixers’ next test comes Monday night against the San Antonio Spurs at the Wells Fargo Center. Joel Embiid, who sat out Saturday’s game to rest, is expected to return against the Spurs. Then the Sixers (9-16) will face the Boston Celtics at the TD Garden on Christmas Day.

Darius Garland led the Cavs with 26 points while making 6 of 7 3-pointers to go with five rebounds and four assists. Evan Mobley added 22 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists, while Donovan Mitchell had 19 points and five assists.

Maxey paced the Sixers with 27 points while making 5 of 19 3-pointers. He scored the Sixers’ first eight points of the game. Maxey also scored 13 of their 21 third-quarter points.

Paul George added 11 points and five rebounds while playing the second night of a back-to-back for the first time this season. The nine-time All-Star, however, made just 4 of 12 shots after shooting 2 for 12 Friday night against the Charlotte Hornets.

Heading into Saturday’s game, the Sixers were playing their best basketball of the season. They won two straight games and six of their last eight matchups.

Early on, it appeared the Sixers would have a chance to continue their winning ways. They jumped out to an 11-point lead midway through the first quarter. However, as the NBA’s best team, the Cavs (25-4) were expected to go on a run. And they did just that.

After knotting the score at 30 after one quarter, Cleveland outscored the Sixers, 36-25, in the second quarter to take a 66-55 halftime lead.

The Cavs then opened the third quarter with a 9-0 run to build a 20-point advantage just three minutes into the half.

However, the Sixers refused to quit and pulled within eight points to bring the score to 81-73 for the Cavs after Tyrese Maxey’s 3-pointer with 5 minutes, 24 seconds left in the quarter. However, Cleveland would respond with a 14-2 run to go up, 95-75.

As a team, the Sixers made just 39.5% of their shots. They also struggled mightily with perimeter defense. The Cavs made a season-high 22 3-pointers off 43 attempts.