Recap: Sixers 103, Cavs 93 (or, Puzzle Pieces and Physicality)
2022-02-14The Cavs showed some fight in their game against the 76ers on Saturday, but ended up leaving Philadelphia with a loss and probably more questions than answers. Fortunately, life in the NBA moves fast, and any lingering feelings of malaise from Philly were today swept away along with the good news that Cleveland’s Jarrett Allen would, in the end, be selected as an All Star.
OFFICIAL: @_bigjayy_ will replace James Harden on #TeamLeBron in the 2022 @NBAAllStar Game at @RMFieldHouse! 🌟
DETAILS: https://t.co/naYve8skdG #LetEmKnow pic.twitter.com/Ut7GBfXCqM
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) February 14, 2022
Since Allen’s very arrival in Cleveland in January 2021 was made possible by the James Harden trade, it seems fitting that Harden’s hamstring this time has made way for the Cavs $100 million center to participate in the All Star Game as an injury replacement. This is the first time since 2018 that Cleveland has been represented by two All Stars, following on from Kevin Love and LeBron James that year. Congratulations to Jarrett and to the Cavs organization. Although it’s a case of delayed gratification, in the end the Association was able to get this one right.
Recap
The Cavs lost a tough game in Philadelphia to an aligned and high-functioning 76ers squad. Following their new pattern as the All Star break approaches, the Cavs fell into an early hole and fought their way back into contention. In spite of taking the lead in the third quarter, J.B. Bickerstaff’s club was unable to sustain the scrap and fell in the second night of their home-road back to back. The Sixers were missing their newest piece, but the Cavs reciprocated by sitting Rajon Rondo. Lauri Markkanen’s size and lateral speed were missed as the Sixers won the physicality battle, outrebounding Cleveland 40-34. While Joel Embiid’s massive triple-double performance was singled out as the primary reason for the game’s final result, the Sixers role players all played well and no Cavalier other than Darius Garland had an outstanding evening.
First Quarter
The Sixers pounced on the Cavs from the jump. Closeouts were slow and, as JB later put it, the Sixers were “playing with force and playing with speed” that swamped the Cavs. Summoning “Wombat energy” on the perimeter is not always easy on the second night of a back-to-back, but the Cavs defenders did step up the effort after an initial timeout. The Cavs stayed active on defense, although their deflections for the most part did not result in turnovers.
Joel Embiid had an almost effortless quarter, dropping in 14 points (2-2 from three) with five rebounds. While the Cavs were not hauling in any offensive boards, Darius Garland showed utter confidence and paced the Cavs with 9 points and a couple of rebounds. Embiid had a seat, having forced only a couple of fouls from the Cavs big men. Cleveland proceeded to make a bit of progress on the scoreboard, thanks to Caris LeVert, who narrowed the gap with two balletic solo takes and two steals. Kevin Love, still working out basic chemistry with LeVert on the offensive end, never got the ball where he wanted it and clanked a couple of long jumpers.
Cavs 23, Sixers 36
Second Quarter
Coming out of the quarter break, the Cavs got Love the ball in the post, where he dribbled down the shot clock and ended up forcing Darius Garland into a rushed and infelicitous three point attempt. But there are other ways to stabilize things, and some of those ways are named Evan. Mobley cut to the hoop for a dunk, then ran point for a possession, leading to a Cedi Osman triple that cut the deficit to 38-28.
If you were to rely only on Chris Fedor recaps, you might think that it was only Joel Embiid who exhausted the Cavs with an arsenal of lumbering yet graceful moves. But in fact the Sixers’ backup bigs, namely Georges Niang and Paul Reed, had very good games, combining for 11 rebounds on the night and outplaying the Cavs counter of Dean Wade (4 rebounds) and Kevin Love (2 rebounds, about which more later). Caris LeVert played surprisingly solid defense on Niang in the paint on one possession, then knocking the ball away and denying him a rebound on another. Cedi and Darius kept filling it up, and the Cavs were making up ground. At halftime it was Sixers 58, Cavs 51.
Third Quarter
In this quarter the “Darius vs. Embiid” marquee energy was abundant, and the Cavs took a brief lead. The Sixers then made their run with Darius out. Okoro got stuck in the corner on offense, which got stagnant with LeVert (0-4 in the quarter) pounding it and a minimum of ball movement. Mobley and Allen were steady as can be and kept scoring, and Dean Wade drained a three.
Kevin Love finally got the ball where he wanted it for a triple attempt, but the whistle had blown on a foul, and he showed some rare frustration. The Sixers’ rookie point guard Tyrese Maxey continued his strong run, making timely decisions to blur to the hoop.
Sixers 80, Cavs 71
Fourth Quarter
Tobias Harris and Furkan Korkmaz woke up, each tallying a couple of buckets, while the Sixers’ doubling of Darius Garland left the Cavs’ All Star guard empty but for a pair of free throws on the quarter. Embiid iced the game with a reflexive three along with finishing up his impressive (14-15) night from the free throw line. The Cavs finally started to get Embiid in foul trouble (he ended with four personal fouls) but it was too late. Doc Rivers, being himself, could not stop himself from working the referees, which he had been doing from the moment of his first double-digit lead in the first quarter, or perhaps from the moment of his first words as a child. With or without James Harden, Seth Curry, or Andre Drummond, the Sixers are a tough out.
Notes
KLove ended the night with a mere 2 rebounds and 4 points, making this game one to forget. This game was one of his worst four performances of the year in the rebounding and points metric — the other three statistically similar games were in matchups against Steven Adams, Rudy Gobert, and Anthony Davis. Let’s hope Kevin Love’s return to play against Philadelphia is more like his deft and untouchable 13-point first quarter performance of April 2021.
Philadelphia is difficult to beat at home. Coming into this game, the Sixers were a respectable 15-12 in their arena this season, but it’s worth remembering that they are coming off of two shortened seasons where they went 29-7 (2020-21) and an almost unbelievable 29-2 (2019-20).
An acoustical note: The Sixers’ home record might have something to do with the obscene noise that passes for fan engagement in their arena, which are similar to the crass and unnecessary audio antics at Atlanta Hawks games. Perhaps the Cavs players could practice while being accompanied by this ridiculous, ugly, and dissonant soundtrack so that they are fully comfortable in it when playing on the road in Philadelphia? It might also be that players should be allowed to wear earbuds when playing in Philadelphia, either for noise cancellation or for hearing orchestrations emanating from a mic tucked into in Rondo’s wine-and-gold hoodie.
Speaking of Rondo, he was missed greatly in this game. Not that his presence “unlocks” Kevin Love per se, but putting the offense in the hands of Caris LeVert when Darius is off the court seems to be a contingency measure as the Cavs simply try to get to the All Star break intact. No Goodwin or Lamar Stevens appearances were made in this game, apart from the last three minutes of garbage time.
One last thought on the difficulty of winning in Philadelphia. The Cavs last upset Philly at home almost exactly a year ago, besting the Sixers 112-109 in an overtime win where they sustained 42 points from Embiid (sound familiar?) and had big performances from the young core, including 15 points from Isaac Okoro. Darius Garland, Caris LeVert and other Cavs interested in making Cleveland-Philadelphia a real rivalry might want to consult that tape, not just because it includes Collin Sexton channeling Sam Cassell. Confidence boosters are hard to come by vs. a Philadelphia team that ended last season atop the standings in the East, but J.B.’s Cavs have already got one in the bank.
The Cavs next play on Tuesday night in Atlanta, their final game before the All Star break. No matter the outcome of that match, the Cavs will go into the break deserving of some rest and as one of the elite teams in the Eastern Conference — not bad for a few months’ work.
live thread up!
NOT AN NBA ATHLETE –BUT ONE OF MY FAVORITE ALL TIME ATHLETE’S NAME IS THE BROWNS——FAIR HOOKER
right. that was a good name!
DRAGIC APPEARS TO BE THE MOST COVETED IN THE BUYOUT MARKET——-A FEW MEDIA POSTS–( TAKE IT FOR WHAT IT IS WORTH )– HAVE CAVS LINKED TO SCHROEDER // HARRIS
Good recap, but one word:
LeVert. Not LaVert. I used to do the same thing.
.
Yikes, thanks for pointing that out, Jason! Not very professional of me — but I have corrected it throughout the post, no disrespect to the player. Incidentally I learned that Levert/LeVert is of French derivation, having to do with ‘one who wears green’, sort of like ‘Revere’ apparently means someone who lives on the banks of a body of water. Someday a whole CtB post on names in the NBA would be fun, Dort’s being the most gnarly, or maybe a post with a whole bunch of potential nicknames as the Hartenstein German origin unleashed quite a few ideas on… Read more »
Speaking of players with difficult or double-take names, I recently was checking the fate of the Cavs 2020-21 bench players and found that Mfiondu Kabengele, who played 16 games in what is now Evan Mobley’s position, is no longer in the NBA. He is however playing for the Rockets’ G-League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, where his teammates currently include Rockets two-way players Daishen Nix and Trevelin Queen.
Yep, in French he is literally “the green.” Le being the “the” and Vert being the “green.”
Depending on your foreign language skills, it could help you with the spelling. Since Caris is male, the masculine “le” would be proper instead of the feminine “la”. One would never say la garcon (the boy) or le fille (the girl). Instead le garcon and la fille. Le Vert instead of La Vert.
Folks in Cleveland should know LeVert. Check allmusic.com
HARRIS// DRAGIC// OR McCLEMORE –WHO WOULD YOU PICK AMONGST THE 3 FOR A BUYOUT———-WISE DECISION NOT TO BRING LAURI BACK FOR JUTS THIS 1 GAME —LET HIM REHAB // GET REAQUANTED WITH HIS TEAMMATES–COME BACK STRONG AFTER THE BREAK—-THE SAME WITH DG IF HIS BACK IS HURTING
Dragic. Easy.
He’s a PG. The others are not. Everyone will be after him, though.
Harris next. Better defender, though no longer near elite.
Yep. Dragic would be ideal if he has anything left, big if. Was a good three point shooter a decent playmakes a pg.
SCOTCH—THAT IS WHAT THE MEDIA IS SAYING ALSO—TO THE LAKERS—-WILL FIT RIGHT IN WITH THAT ‘DYSFUNTIONAL MESS ‘
GREAT RECAP—CONGRATS AGAIN TO JA——-WHO IS GOING TO BE THE 1ST TEAM TO OFFER THE REINSTATED TYREKE EVANS A CONTRACT
Lakers lol
hate to keep crying over spilled milk, but I sure wish the Cavs had tendered HardRock. maybe he could have helped with Embiid. Our three bigs have missed a LOT of games.
Nice Adam!!! you did not disappoint!
Love how you brought up that phrase “force and speed” that JB brought up in the post-game because that was such a key to Philly’s success and Cleveland’s demise in the game.
Also another thing that prevents guys from playing fast and physical is when there’s a lack of chemistry and guys aren’t used to playing with each other… enter Caris. Hopefully he grows in the role and finds consistency… he had the pass going but never found the rhythm with the shot.
super solid recap as always adam. The rebounding problem is hard to parse until you look at the lineup we didn’t use. Love actually only played 17 mins. No Rondo, who is a decent rebounding guard. No stevens before garbage. And Mobley had 8 but allen only had 5 dealing with Embiid. Wade doesn’t typically rebound well partially due to being a perimeter defender most of his minutes. We sorely missed Lauri in this game. But the nail in the coffin was their gameplan against DG…he had 1 measly assist. I suspect the next game against Philly will be similar… Read more »
PS if there ever was a game to throw Windler in…this was it. We weren’t going to be more physical than them anyway. Might as well try to outscore them.
adam…the flawless use of “infelicitous” in the course of an NBA game recap is a grammatic flex on the level of supercilious and pusillanimous. huge props lol.