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76ers-Cavaliers Preview

Nov 6, 2015 - 3:38 AM The Cleveland Cavaliers are enjoying a much smoother start than last season behind a more balanced offense and a vastly improved defense.

They'll try to continue their success with a fifth straight victory Friday night against the visiting Philadelphia 76ers.

Cleveland (4-1) won its fourth in a row with a 96-86 home victory against New York on Wednesday, leaning on LeBron James' 23 points and 22 by Mo Williams. James scored 11 in the fourth quarter to help the Cavaliers outscore the Knicks 26-17 over the final 12 minutes, though he was 1 of 5 from 3-point range on the night to fall to 2 for 18 on the season.

"I'm just out of rhythm," he said. "I've got to work on it. It's not like I'm Steph Curry or J.J. Redick anyway. But I did hit a big one tonight so I just got to get some reps."

His outside shooting slump has not been as detrimental as it has been for past James-led teams, however. Cleveland is sharing the ball well, ranking near the top of the league with assists on 66.8 percent of its made field goals after finishing 13th last season (58.7). The Cavaliers are running isolation plays on 8.7 percent of possessions after doing so a league-high 11.4 percent in 2014-15.

Those numbers soared in last year's Finals when they were without starters Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving due to injuries. James averaged 35.8 points per game, but needed 32.7 shots per game and made only 39.8 percent.

Irving is still recovering from knee surgery, but James is averaging a much more sustainable 19.2 field goal attempts. Williams is also averaging 15.4 points with a 3.1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

All of these factors have led to a better start than last season, when Cleveland opened 5-7.

"That's how we're going to win," James said. "We're going to win how we've been playing and defending at a high level."

The Cavaliers limit teams to 92.4 points per 100 possessions after allowing 104.1 in 2014-15 to rank 20th. That doesn't bode well for Philadelphia (0-4), which is averaging only 88.3 points on 39.9 percent shooting.

The 76ers are one of four winless teams along with Brooklyn, New Orleans and the Los Angeles Lakers. Though they're less than a quarter of the way to their dreadful 0-17 start from a year ago, it's reminiscent.

Philadelphia lost by an average of 14.4 points in that miserable beginning, one shy of matching the Nets' NBA record for the longest season-opening skid. The 76ers' four losses have been by 14.0 points per game.

Nonetheless, Brett Brown feels like progress is being made, particularly after Philadelphia came close to breaking through for its first win in a 91-87 loss at Milwaukee on Wednesday.

Rookie T.J. McConnell impressed in his first start at point guard with seven points, 12 assists and nine rebounds. No. 3 overall pick Jahlil Okafor continues to shine with 20.3 points on 54.8 percent shooting, while Nerlens Noel is averaging 13.3 points, 10.8 rebounds and 2.0 blocks.

"Tonight, we were in a position, at the end, to get a road win. We didn't but it's something you just leave feeling good about the group," Brown said. "They are moving forward."

The Cavaliers have averaged 10.3 3-pointers while winning six of the last seven meetings.