Well, that sucked

Dec 1, 2022 - 2:24 AM

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The Sixers took their worst loss of the young season Wednesday night, as the Cleveland Cavaliers caught fire and cruised to a 113-85 victory. Perennial Sixer killer Caris LeVert led the way with 22 points as Cleveland shot a blistering 60 percent on the night. Darius Garland also had 21 of his own and Donovan Mitchell had 18 points on just nine shots.

Joel Embiid and the Sixers struggled from the field, shooting just 42 percent.

Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.

First Half

• There is a lot going on with the Cavaliers city edition court — none of it good though, I’m afraid.
• The Sixers’ offense was pretty quiet from the start. Cleveland seemed to emphasize keeping them out of the paint, as they doubled up the Sixers in points in the paint at 16-8 and took three defensive 3-second violations in the half. Philly shot just 44 percent from the field and turned the ball over five times in the opening quarter as the Cavs took a four-point lead.
• Like the rest of his team, Joel Embiid got off to a slow shooting start. His passing however, was very sharp. This is something that’s carried over from the Hawks game. Embiid dished out four first-quarter assists.

• Not only were the Sixes getting dominated in the paint, they weren’t hitting anything from the outside either. They shot 3 of 14 from downtown in the first half, while the Cavs shot 67 percent from deep allowing them to balloon their lead to 21 at the break. Cleveland shot 73 percent (!!!!!!!) from the field in the first half.
• Not that any Cavalier looked bad in the first half, their bench went a perfect 10-10, but Evan Mobley was so impressive from the start. He didn’t get off to the best start this year, but he appears to be finding a groove. Sixteen points on 8 of 10 shooting while also having to defend Joel Embiid on the other end.

Second Half

• If this one wasn’t over in the first half, the Cavs made sure of it in the third. They came out of the break on a 13-2 run, the Sixers didn’t even score a field goal for the first six minutes of the quarter. Just throw away the tape from this one.
• The Sixers will try to put this one behind them when they travel to Memphis to take on the Grizzlies Friday night at 8 p.m..