PHILADELPHIA - The Cavaliers had the night exactly where they wanted it, and then they let it slip away.
Cleveland built a huge early cushion against the 76ers on Thursday night inside Xfinity Mobile Arena, going up 35-18 after one quarter and carrying a 69-45 lead into halftime. But a game that looked headed for a statement road win turned into another brutal finish for the Cavs, who fell 114-106 in Philadelphia.
The setting matched the occasion. The sold-out building had been buzzing from the moment LeBron James, one of the newest Sixers after a splashy summer arrival, was introduced for the first time with his signature scorer’s table chalk toss.
The reaction was thunderous. For Philadelphia, that was the high point of the first half.
Cleveland, meanwhile, came out playing with purpose. The Cavs were the aggressor early, outworking Philadelphia and frustrating the home crowd enough that the boos briefly turned inward in the second quarter. For a while, the reigning Eastern Conference runner-up looked like the team setting the tone, while the new-look Sixers searched for answers.
Then the game flipped hard.
Philadelphia opened the third quarter with an 11-0 burst before Peyton Watson stopped the bleeding with a driving runner. But the Sixers kept coming, slowly chipping away at what had been a 29-point Cleveland advantage.
Tyrese Maxey’s pull-up 3-pointer at the 5:18 mark pulled the game back to single digits and sent the arena into a frenzy. By 3:59 left in the third, it was a one-possession game.
Cleveland did steady itself just enough to close the period strong, scoring the final six points and taking an eight-point edge into the fourth. That, it turned out, was only a brief pause.
The Sixers came out firing again, opening the final quarter with a 7-2 run and trimming the margin to three. Around five minutes into the fourth, Philadelphia grabbed its first lead of the night at 96-95. From there, the pressure kept building on the Cavs as the lead continued to swing - three, then five, then seven for the home team.
Cleveland managed to get within four late, but Philadelphia finished it off in emphatic fashion. Jaylen Brown slammed home a two-handed dunk with 21 seconds left to seal the comeback and punctuate the night.
For the Cavaliers, it looked too much like Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, when they coughed up a 22-point fourth-quarter lead. That collapse hung over the summer, and this one will sting just as badly.
Donovan Mitchell led Cleveland with 32 points on 11-of-19 shooting and added 10 rebounds. Evan Mobley finished with 18 points, Jarrett Allen had 14 and Mario Hezonja added 10.
Philadelphia got 32 points from Maxey, who was a major reason James chose the Sixers over Cleveland during the summer. Joel Embiid added 24 points and seven rebounds, while Brown posted 17 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in 33 minutes.
Earlier Thursday, after Cleveland’s shootaround on the campus of Temple University, Mitchell described the mood surrounding the opener.
Packed arena. Rabid fanbase.
Charged atmosphere. Luminaries out - Sixers legend Allen Iverson, former championship boxer Bernard Hopkins, R&B group Boyz II Men, who sang the national anthem.
“What better way to start than to come into Philly and win an opening night in their place?” Mitchell asked.
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