It took two overtimes, the ability to overcome three huge shots by the 76ers, new lineups and three potential game winning shots by Kyrie Irving for the Cavs to beat the Philadelphia 76ers on the second night of a home-and-home series. The 76ers are a team that was not projected to be very good prior to the season. Michael Carter-Williams did not come into the league with much fanfare. The biggest storyline with the franchise was how bad they were supposed to be and how they are supposedly tanking for Andrew Wiggins.
The Philadelphia 76ers didn't get the memo. They may very well finish the season with a very bad record, but the fact of the matter is that Brett Brown has them playing very hard. Evan Turner, Spencer Hawes, Thaddeus Young and Michael Carter-Williams are all playing out of their mind. When the 76ers played the Cavs in Columbus, Brett Brown raised a lot of eyebrows when he said that his roster has "6 NBA players." The remaining 9 players on the roster evidently didn't get the memo.
Cleveland started the game well. They made 14 out of 25 shots in the first quarter which left them with a 30-27 lead. They could have defended better to start the game. The 76ers shot 47.4% in the first quarter, which is pretty much in line with how they finished the game. Alonzo Gee made his first start this season. Earl Clark did not register a minute for the Cavs. Gee only played 20 minutes throughout the entire game.
The Cavs gave up 37 points on 13-21 shooting in the third quarter. Things were looking questionable for the Cavs during this stretch. Cleveland countered with 22 points on 5-14 shooting. Needless to say, the Cavs were lucky to come away winners after such a poor effort in the third quarter.
Cleveland outscored the 76ers 32-22 in the fourth quarter. They also held Philadelphia to 38.9% shooting and they forced 4 key turnovers.
This was an important win for the team because they are playing their next two games on the road in Chicago and Minnesota. Heading into that road trip with a 3-4 record as opposed to 2-5 is significantly better. Nobody would be surprised if the Cavs lost both of their next two games. They were facing a potential 2-7 record to start the season, which is not how playoff teams come out of the gate.
Mike Brown employed a three guard lineup of Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters and Jarrett Jack for much of the game and almost the entirety of both overtime periods. Kyrie Irving was spectacular. He finished with 39 points, 5 rebounds, 12 assists and only 3 turnovers. He suffered from tunnel-vision late in the game at times, but it is difficult to nitpick his performance given how good he was. Dion Waiters had the best game of this young campaign. Waiters had 24 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals. Jarrett Jack hit some big shots for the Cavs on his way to 20 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists.
Tristan Thompson and Anderson Varejao combined for 32 points and 20 rebounds which is about as good of a line that you can ask of a starting frontcourt.
For the 76ers, Thaddeus Young, Evan Turner and Michael Carter-Williams were spectacular. Carter-Williams converted on a three point shot towards the end of the final overtime period that had an incredibly high degree of difficulty. Evan Turner had 31 points and 10 rebounds for the 76ers. Thaddeus Young made 11 of 18 shots, but it felt like he made all 18 of them. Young was a thorn in the side of the Cavs in the entirety of the game. As great of a defender as Tristan Thompson is, Young seemed to give him problems.
None of that mattered at the end of the game. Kyrie Irving drove left against a packed paint and converted on a very difficult game winning shot. The crowd at the Quicken Loans Arena celebrated accordingly, but it also felt as if people were relieved that the game was finally over and that the Cavs didn't get swept by the lowly 76ers.