The Cavaliers got the kind of night they’ve been chasing early this season: a real lead, real control and no late-game panic. Cleveland rolled past the 76ers 119-95 on Friday in its NBA Cup opener, and this one never came close to turning into the kind of mess the Cavs have been flirting with lately.
That matters because the last time these teams met, Cleveland coughed up a 29-point advantage. This time, the Cavs pushed the margin to 23 and stayed on top the rest of the way. There was no fourth-quarter scramble, no uneasy feeling that the game might slip away.
Donovan Mitchell set the tone with 23 points and a game-high eight assists. He played like a guy who wanted to make sure there wouldn’t be a repeat of the ugly loss in Oklahoma City, and Kenny Atkinson said Mitchell understood the moment.
“He knows we needed this win. He’s got a great sense of the moment. I thought he did a great job of passing the ball tonight, too.”
Evan Mobley was right there with him, and maybe even more important to how Cleveland controlled the game. Mobley finished with 22 points and looked like the most complete version of himself the Cavs have seen this season. He was active, involved and central to everything Cleveland did well.
Atkinson was just as direct when asked about Mobley.
“He’s just been playing great basketball,” the coach said.
LeBron James had a rough night in a way that stood out even by the standards of a difficult outing. He scored eight points on 3-of-12 shooting and turned it over six times. The Cavs made him work for everything, and he never found a rhythm.
Joel Embiid had an even tougher time. He went 0-of-9 from the field and finished with six points, all at the line. Mobley won that matchup decisively.
James Harden added 17 points for Philadelphia, but the Sixers didn’t get enough from their stars to keep pace. Tyrese Maxey, who has become the focal point for the Sixers, was held to 5-of-15 shooting. Cleveland’s defense kept fresh bodies coming at him, and that pressure showed.
Jarrett Allen sat out with a knee issue, and Sam Merrill left at halftime with an elbow problem, so the Cavs needed more than their usual top-end production. They got it.
Mario Hezonja scored 15 off the bench. Peyton Watson returned and put up 13.
Thomas Bryant also had 13, and Meleek Thomas added 12. Cleveland didn’t need Mitchell to carry every possession or for anyone to go nuclear.
The supporting cast showed up, and that made a difference.
Atkinson didn’t dance around the biggest reason the Cavs won so convincingly.
“Defense.”
That was the story, especially with the work Watson and others did on Maxey. Watson’s return gave Cleveland another option against a guard who can wear out a defense, and the Cavs used that depth to keep Philadelphia from ever settling in.
For one night, it all came together: the starters, the bench, the defense, the control. It was the kind of performance that can make a team look much more settled than its record suggests. Cleveland moved to 5-4 with what was probably its most complete game of the season.
The schedule doesn’t give the Cavs much time to enjoy it. The defending champion Knicks are next on Saturday, and they’re the same team that swept Cleveland out of the Eastern Conference finals.
The Sixers came in at 8-1, so this was already a difficult test. The second half of the back-to-back figures to be even tougher.
The injury watch continues, too. Allen, Merrill and Jaylon Tyson, who was on the sideline in a New Orleans Saints jersey, will be worth monitoring. Tyson’s brother, Jordyn, is a heralded Saints rookie expected to make his NFL debut Sunday against the Browns.
For now, though, the Cavs can point to a night when they built a lead and actually protected it. After some of the early-season swings they’ve already lived through, that alone made this one feel different.
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The Cavaliers answered an early test against Philadelphia with the kind of effort that usually travels well in the postseason conversation: physical rebounding, connected defense and enough shot-making from Donovan Mitchell to keep control of the game. Cleveland had the edge on the glass and made life difficult for the Sixers for long stretches, a good sign for a team still sorting out how its rotation pieces fit together after a recent trade added another layer to the mix.
Peyton Watson was a big part of that stability, giving Cleveland a useful two-way boost in his latest outing and helping slow down Tyrese Maxey on the perimeter. Mitchell supplied the steadying offense with 23 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, and the Cavaliers got contributions across the lineup to protect the lead and finish the job, even as the bigger question remains how much of this version can hold up once the schedule tightens. [Read more 🡒]
Kenny Atkinson Revisits The Cavs Quote Fans Never Forgot
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Atkinson also used the moment to underline something coaches often say but rarely get to explain in detail: analytics matter, but so do mental and physical toughness when the games get tight and the season gets heavy. For Cleveland, it is another reminder that the margins in the postseason are shaped by more than numbers, even if one old quote still has a way of following a coach around. [Read more 🡒]
Cavaliers Just Got A Frustrating Knicks Reminder They Couldn't Ignore
The Cavaliers left Madison Square Garden with a 109-97 loss and a familiar kind of frustration, the sort that can linger because it was built on more than one bad stretch. Donovan Mitchell poured in 37 points, but most of that damage came late, after the game had already tilted the wrong way, and Cleveland spent much of the night trying to dig out of an early hole against a Knicks team that looked more physical from the start.
New Yorks edge was felt in the places Cleveland usually wants to control, with extra possessions and loose balls turning into a steady problem the Cavs never solved. James Harden had a rough night offensively, going 2-for-9 and finishing at minus-23, which only added to the reminder that this matchup can get away from Cleveland quickly when the other team wins the hustle battle and forces the Cavs to chase instead of dictate. [Read more 🡒]