Two games at home with the Sixers for James Harden, two comeback wins.
On Friday night, the 66ers closed a 21-point gap in a 125-119 victory over the Cavs. Now they have a joint score of 39-23 and 4-0 with Harden.
Tyrese Maxi had a great game, scoring 33 points and giving five assists.
Harden had 25 points and 11 assists. Joel Embiid scored 22 points and nine rebounds.
“We need it,” Harden said. We need this for our team, for our unity. And to be honest, we have 20 games left before the shit gets real. So we need games like this to prepare. down that first half was probably good, just to see our resilience and see what we’re made of. Tonight was a pretty good start. We should just keep chipping away.”
Four Cavs scored 20 or more points, led by Darius Garland with 26 points. Garland also made 19 passes. Cleveland’s Carys LeVert, Colleen Sexton and Rajon Rondo were all out with injuries.
The 66ers will face the Heat on Saturday night in Miami. Here are the observations of their victory over the Cavs:
Cleveland’s scorching start
The Cavs hit their first nine field goals and seemed to have achieved everything they wanted.
Early on, there were several instances where the Sixers held back dribbling penetration or forced the Cleveland ball handlers to deviate from their preferred path. Especially in a team that is still integrating the new piece in Harden, it is important to have more ball resistance and less difficult spins.
Isaac Okoro, who averaged 8.8 points in the game, scored 13 points in the first eight minutes. He was aggressive in the matchup against Maxi and one of several Cavs who made a profit during the transition period. Cleveland scored 10 points in fast breaks in the first quarter to take a 39-18 lead thanks to three-pointer Kevin Love.
The Cavs scored 60 points on 34 field goals in less than 18 minutes, which is very difficult for any team.
Defense was by far the 66ers’ biggest problem, but it didn’t help that they made some costly losses against the Cavs zone. Maxi’s raised pass, intended for Embiid at the high post, created a fast break for Cleveland, culminating in Okoro’s two penalties.
Harden adopted a “deal first” approach to kick off the evening. He didn’t look under the basket and didn’t shoot until there were 53.6 seconds left on the first shot. There’s nothing wrong with him aiming to give teammates good shots, although it’s clear that constantly finding opportunities for Harden and Embiid against zones will be key. Miami will almost certainly give the 66ers more zone representatives on Saturday night.
Georges Niang lost three triples in the first period against the Cavs zone. And Shake Milton hit his first triple since Jan. 3, when he suffered a bruised back. He has been 0 for 10 from long range since returning from injury.
Harden’s dirty troubles don’t drown the Sixers
Harden committed his third foul with eight minutes and 31 seconds left in the second quarter and sat out the remainder of the first half.
His second foul angered the fans; Harden was whistled for an offensive foul on Evan Mobley when he hit a three at the end of the first period. Embiid’s offensive foul early in the third quarter, his fourth foul of the game, also sparked passionate anti-official sentiment.
In the end, the 66ers did a great job getting their All-Star defenseman off the floor. They had an eight-point lead over Cleveland in those minutes, and Milton revitalized the offense a bit, hitting two short mid-range shots in addition to the aforementioned three-pointer.
Using Embiid and Tobias Harris against the zone gave good results during the stretch without Harden. The passing wasn’t particularly crisp – Embiid was visibly annoyed when Harris failed to make an inbound pass despite the big man having good position on Mobley – but the Sixers targeted favorable areas well and focused on causing damage in the paint.
“In general, I thought from the very beginning that we had problems in the beginning,” said 66ers head coach Doc Rivers. – And then I thought that we literally scored on it every time. was at the beginning in our zone (attack). He was out on the three-point line. Once we got it low, we got hits, we got (posts), we got hits. So I didn’t think it was a big deal.”
On the other hand, the 66ers used their own zone and prevented the Cavs from maintaining their absurd scoring pace. They may consider moving to a more advanced zone as a back-up plan, a change of pace against hot opponents, or a way to get around the foul problems of key players. Friday made sense for all of these reasons.
Maxi flips a special switch
Maxi has a fantastic top gear, which he showed again in the third quarter.
When he breaks free and shows no concern for what might go wrong if he attacks the paint, he is a formidable threat that can drastically change the course of the game.
Maxi’s decisive shots and three-point shots gave the Sixers a good start to the second half. He raced across the court and tossed the ball to Embiid, who cut Cleveland’s lead to 87-85.
As Matisse Tibull was booked for the fifth foul in the third quarter, Maxi defended Garland in the fourth. He outshone the Cavs star guard (and everyone else on the court, for that matter) with another incredible blast. Maxey hit three in a row, then threw a left dunk in a fast break to give the Sixers a 112–106 lead.
Milton (11 points, four rebounds) played in the second half, while Furkan Korkmaz did not play after seven zero minutes of the first half.
Paul Millsap supported Embiid for eight minutes. The Sixers used a small ball in the fourth quarter with Harris and Niang in the frontcourt, and it did the job. Niang scored 17 points in 23 minutes and was instrumental in the comeback.
“I thought in the fourth quarter this small lineup, which was not effective this year, was phenomenal today,” Rivers said. “But without James, he wasn’t effective. and I thought that’s what we stumbled upon. So there are little things that we’re just going to learn.”
In four games, Niang enjoyed playing Harden and made 10 of 20 three-pointers.
“He does a great job of having everyone look at him and then forget about me, and it worked. We should do this often,” Niang joked. – He’s a great player. He does what he does and, like I said before, he’s a basketball genius. He just finds clever ways to get the other guys involved and score. I was lucky enough to be a victim of this.”
New player DeAndre Jordan is expected to join the Sixers on Saturday.
Of course, the Harden-Ambiid duo was in the spotlight, not the backup center situation. Embiid’s disappearance on one leg and a more compact Harden essentially sealed the Sixers’ victory.
With the 6ers in the lead, it’s now hard to imagine opponents managing a ton of late game stoppages. And when the Sixers lose, the last two games have shown that comebacks are very important.