The Cavaliers had this one in their hands and let it slip away in spectacular fashion, falling 114-106 to the Philadelphia 76ers after building a 29-point cushion. Cleveland was up 69-45 at halftime, and what followed was one of those second halves that can turn a comfortable win into a brutal lesson.
Philadelphia changed the tone by turning up the pressure with full-court presses, and Cleveland looked rattled almost immediately. The ball movement and decision-making that had worked so well early on started to unravel, with everyone besides Donovan Mitchell and James Harden forced into tough, rushed actions. Instead of settling down and answering the push, the Cavaliers kept feeding the Sixers’ momentum.
The biggest swing came right out of the third quarter. Philadelphia ripped off a 16-0 run to open the period, and Atkinson did not call a timeout until Cleveland had been outscored 28-11 in the quarter.
He waited again later before stopping play, this time not intervening until the Cavaliers were down seven in the fourth. That approach has been a theme, including in the playoffs when James Harden was getting cooked by Brunson and there was no reaction from Atkinson then, either.
His preference is clearly to let the group play through it, but that didn’t help Cleveland get its footing back here.
The drop-off from the stars told the story too. In the first half, the two combined for 29 points.
By the end of the game, they had just 3 points between them. Embiid never changed the way he was defending either player, and Cleveland simply failed to get them involved or generate anything when they did touch the ball.
Evan Mobley brought effort, and there were stretches where it looked like he was growing into the game with real confidence. But that confidence disappeared in the second half, even though his positives still outweighed the negatives overall for the Cavaliers.
There was also a clearer picture forming at the back end of the rotation. Early in the game, it looked like Atkinson had identified his 9th and 10th men, with Craig Porter Jr. and Tyrese Proctor appearing to be the last two players in the bench group. Proctor, though, barely had a chance to leave a mark, playing less than 5 minutes.
Peyton Watson was one of the few bright spots, at least in the first half. He did a solid job when matched up with Jaylen Brown, LeBron James, and Tyrese Maxey. Once the game sped up, that became harder to maintain, but he still stood out in a night full of ugly performances.
For Cleveland, this was a bad bad game, and the kind that can’t keep piling up. If it does, changes are going to come soon.
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