Sixers Hold on to 4th Quarter Lead, Take Down Cavs

Tyrese Maxey and the Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 104-97, despite the Cavs making it close towards the end of the game. Buddy Hield drilled a 3 to go up 8 with only 30 seconds remaining in the 4th to seal the deal and push the Sixers to a surprising win.

Philadelphia moves to 33-23 and is 1 game behind the 4-seeded New York Knicks.

Maxey and Paul Reed led Philadelphia past Cleveland by using their scoring and rebounding skills respectively. Maxey’s 24 points were the most on the Sixers and were tied for most of the game, and Reed’s 12 rebounds were the most on the night. Reed has been decent so far playing as Embiid’s replacement, but he’s going to need to be able to score a little more than he has recently in order to really keep Philly going.

With Donovan Mitchell being out, Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen both had to step up and fill his shoes in the scoring column, but it seemed as if nobody else really wanted to. Garland and Allen scored 44 of Cleveland’s 97 points, and only 2 other players on the Cavs scored more than 10. One of the best offensive teams in the league was shut down by a Sixers squad that has been disappointing on the defensive end of the court recently — a surprising turn of events that led to this Philadelphia victory.

The Sixers will take on the Bucks at Home on Sunday Afternoon. This will be the first time Patrick Beverley will be back in Philly and they will be tested to see if they can still handle top teams without Joel Embiid.