Sixers fall short once more in 4th loss in last 5 games
Mar 29, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Kyle Lowry (7) drives to the basket against Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) during the first half at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
For the fourth and final time this season, the 76ers went head-to-head with the Donavan Mitchell-led Cavaliers. Former Sixers Georges Niang and Marcus Morris Sr had great nights off the bench for Cleveland while Tyrese Maxey put up some of his worst stats of the season with just 16 points. As the 76ers struggle to find form let’s break down the close loss to the Cavs.
The 76ers didn’t look great immediately out of the gate, but a 16-5 run towards the end of the first helped flip the script as the 76ers would cut the deficit down to 3 with a score of 28-25 Cavs. Tobias Harris came out swinging with 9 first quarter points helping pick up the slack with Maxey’s struggles only beginning going 2-8 on FG’s with 5 points. Donavan Mitchell led the way for Cleveland with 7 of their 28 points.
As Kate Scott would say B-Ball Paul was rolling with 10 of the 30 second quarter points for the 76ers as they went blow for blow in a high scoring 2nd quarter with the Cavs. They did this despite Tyrese Maxey going 0-4 on shots in 7 minutes. Former 76er Georges Niang said hello with 11 points with three 3-pointers alongside Jarret Allen who dropped 7 in 7 minutes. After a half of play, the 76ers were just a step behind with a score of 57-55.
The 3rd quarter was the best it would be all night with the 76ers offense firing on all cylinders dropping 32 points to open up the 2nd half of basketball. Kyle Lowry dropped 9 of his eventual 23 points, beating his career-high in points as a member of the Sixers. The Sixers’ ability to be in control of the game against a top-seeded opponent both without Embiid, and with Kelly Oubre and Tyrese Maxey struggling caught me by surprise while I was watching and is hopefully a sign of good things to come as we await Embiids return.
One of the 76ers’ biggest problems without Embiid has been holding onto close games and finishing the job. This popped its head out again being outscored by just 5, but a crucial 5 enroute to the late loss once more. Unfortunately when the lights got brightest for one of the few times this season Tyrese Maxey disappeared. 4 points on 6 fourth-quarter shots. Blaming the loss on Tyrese would be irresponsible, but when a superstar of Joel Embiids magnitude is out of the game you can’t afford to have your other star put up that stat line.
With Embiid’s return becoming more and more of a topic of discussion, losses like this don’t look so bad. Think optimistic. the 76ers took the 3rd seeded Cavs to the brink and they did it with Oubre and Maxey both having unexpected bad nights that probably won’t happen twice. Throw the MVP into the mix and things might not be so bad after all. The rough stretch is over and it’s time to look at how this team will match up with the contenders of the East.
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