Cavs take care of business in Philadelphia with emphatic 133-107 win

There aren’t many teams that can hit the highs this Cleveland Cavaliers team can. We saw that in Saturday’s win over the Minnesota Timberwolves and again on Wednesday. They thoroughly dominated the Philadelphia 76ers on both ends of the floor in what was arguably their most complete win of the season.

The Cavs controlled this game on the defensive end. They cleared the defensive glass, kept Philadelphia from getting to the basket, and when they did get to the restricted area, they contested shots well.

Their defensive effort started with how they, particularly Jarrett Allen, defended Joel Embiid. He made it tough for Embiid to get to his spots and was physical at the point of attack. This made it difficult for the Sixers to run their offense through him like they wanted to. And when they tried to get the offense going through their guards, Evan Mobley was there to provide help at the rim.

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Cleveland was also great on the offensive side of the court. All five starters had at least two assists, and three of them had six or more. The ball was moving around the court in a way that was reminiscent of last season. It also helped that they were able to get the three-ball to fall as they connected on 43.5% (20-46) of their outside attempts.

Donovan Mitchell led the way with an impressive 35 points on 11-22 shooting, nine assists, and seven rebounds in just a little over 33 minutes of action. He took control of the game in the third quarter by pouring in 20 points in that quarter alone to keep Philadelphia from getting back into this game.

Mobley had an impressive all-around game. He provided 17 points, 13 rebounds, and six assists on 7-10 shooting.

The Cavs did receive some bad news in this game. Darius Garland left the game in the third quarter with a right foot injury after taking an awkward fall while fighting for a loose ball. Fortunately, the injury is in the opposite foot of the toe that required surgery this past summer. He finished the evening with 20 points on 8-13 shooting to go along with seven assists.

Sam Merrill also left the game with a hand injury.

The Sixers were led by 20 points from Embiid. Paul George contributed 17 points on 7-14 shooting with four assists in the loss.

The Cavs have shown this season that few teams can keep up with their A game. It never really felt like the Sixers had a chance after the Cavs continued to build on their lead in the second and third quarters.

That said, the sign of a great team is being able to have nights like this on a somewhat consistent basis. The Cavs have yet to clear that hurdle as they’ve typically followed up an impressive performance like this with a stinker, as they did in Monday’s loss to the lowly Utah Jazz.

We’ll see if the Cavs can change that trend this time around. They’ll take on the Sixers again in Philadelphia on Friday. Tip-off is at 7 PM.