Game Preview: Sixers (12-9) at Cavaliers (13-8)
As the 76ers continue to get healthier and climb the East standings, they begin a three-game road trip tonight against one of the top teams in the conference looking to build off of Monday’s victory.
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Tonight, the Philadelphia 76ers take on the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first of three matchups this season. The Sixers come into tonight’s game with a 12-9 record (5-4 on the road) and are fifth in the Eastern Conference standings. Their counterpart this evening, the Cavaliers, occupy the third spot in the conference sporting a 13-8 record and are 8-1 at home.
Philadelphia is currently on a three-game win streak after defeating the Atlanta Hawks at home on Monday night, 104-101. In the win, they welcomed back the All-Star center Joel Embiid after a four-game absence and he came up big in his first action since Nov. 19th. Embiid finished with a game-high 30 points, including eight rebounds, seven assists, two steals and two blocked shots, connecting on 12 of 13 free throw attempts — also hitting the go-ahead bucket with 18.6 seconds left on the clock. Trailing 100-99, the big fella found himself with a mismatch against Hawks guard Dejounte Murray in the paint and calmly knocked down a familiar shot… the ball found the right man and he delivered.
The three-time All-Defensive center also showed his impact on the other end of the floor when needed in the clutch. On the very next possession following Embiid’s jumper to give the 76ers the one-point edge, Atlanta’s Trae Young saw an opportunity to attempt a lob play for John Collins, but it was broken up by Embiid as he read the play properly, made a decision to drop back instead of in the lane instead of pushing up to defend Young and the big fella came away with the ball… Embiid was fouled with 5.1 seconds left, made both free throws to give the Sixers a three-point lead, later making one more from the charity stripe after Collins stepped to the line splitting a pair, final score again, 104-101.
Philadelphia also had two others finish in double figures as Tobias Harris dropped 24 while grabbing a team-high 10 boards and Shake Milton continued his strong level of play scoring 21 (11 of which came in the 3rd quarter) adding five rebounds and seven assists. With this stat line, Milton has totaled 20-5-5 in four consecutive games while in the starting lineup. He also protected the ball by not committing a single turnover while on the floor logging a team-high 39 minutes and 33 seconds.
Defensively, the 76ers forced the Hawks into 20 turnovers and scoring 19 points off their mistakes. 11 of those turnovers came in the second half where Philadelphia flipped the game allowing them to secure the victory.
For the Cavs, their roster has been reshaped with the addition of one key player after acquiring three-time All-Star shooting guard Donovan Mitchell, pairing him in the backcourt with fellow All-Star Darius Garland. In his first 21 games with the Cavs, Mitchell leads the team in scoring netting 28.9 points per game (good for 7th in the NBA), also collecting four rebounds and five assists a night.
Garland has played in 15 of the team’s 21 games, missing the seven due to injury. The fourth-year guard scores 22.9 per outing, leading the team in assists handing out eight a night. At home, he’s scored 25-plus points in five of the Cavaliers’ last six home games. Cleveland also has talented young big Evan Mobley in the frontcourt, pairing him with first-time All-Star Jarrett Allen as he mans the middle. Allen will miss tonight’s game while nursing a lower back contusion. Allen missed the team’s last game on Monday as they fell to the Toronto Raptors, 100-88. Mobley and Garland led the team with 18 apiece… Mobley also collected a game-high 15 rebounds.
Last season as the Cavaliers emerged as one of the surprise teams in the league, the Sixers and Cavs went head-to-head in four games with Philadelphia taking all of them.
