The Cavaliers played 12-21 and nine players available Saturday night at Wells Fargo Center.
Although the Sixers should have sent the Cavs on paper, they fell 13 points in the second quarter. They overcame the backlog in the second half but could never get past Cleveland.
Joel Embiid missed a base jumper on the Sixers’ final possession of regulation and sent the game to overtime.
“… It’s my shot, and I’ve been working on it,” Embiid said. “It’s a shame I missed it. So what? You go on, you learn from it. Next time I have the opportunity, I’m sure I’m going to make it.”
Cleveland scored the first five points of the extra session and held the Sixers down for a 112-109 victory, dropping the Sixers to 22-12.
Embiid led the team with 42 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. Ben Simmons scored 24 points on 11-to-17 shooting, eight assists and seven rebounds.
The Sixers play the Pacers Monday in their penultimate game before the All-Star halftime. Here’s a comment on Saturday’s loss:
Feeling of Harris’ absence
Furkan Korkmaz started in place of Tobias Harris, who was out with a right knee contusion. It was clear early on that the Sixers did not have a true third-point option, as Embiid and Simmons scored 33 of the Sixers’ 47 first-half points and shot 11 for 20 off the floor. Their teammates scored 4 of 16 field goals. Seth Curry never found his shot, and he missed 12 of his 13 shots in the game.
“Not really,” head coach Doc Rivers said when asked if he was worried about Curry. ‘I think shooters just shoot, and they go through small pieces. I do not think he has been very consistent since returning from COVID. We heard that other players were in and out like that too … They told us to just keep playing him, and that’s what we do. ”
Instead of putting Harris on a smaller forward, or giving him the ball in favorable situations, the Sixers relied on their two All-Stars. This is one of the many reasons why the team will hope that Harris will return soon.
“It’s 20 and 10, fine,” Danny Green said. ‘You miss him, especially another shooter, another scorer, another man who can get to the free throw line, a bigger man who can defend a little and jump again. We’re out of control tonight. We definitely missed him tonight. Hopefully he will be back soon. Regardless of who we have on the floor, who is healthy or injured, we need to get out and play for 48 minutes. There are no excuses. We need to find ways to win. ‘
Mike Scott took the place of Korkmaz to open the second half and played decently, scoring five points in the third period and providing more defensive defense. Tyrese Maxey re-entered the rotation late in the third quarter, while Rivers tried to buy Simmons and Embiid a break before pre-crisis time.
“Just someone with speed or pace, or someone who would play hard,” Rivers said of his decision to play Maxey. “I actually thought he did it. I thought he was pretty good. You could see that he’s not in a while yet with some of the things he did, but this is one of the games you’re just looking for. I thought Mike Scott gave us a big lift in the third quarter. He has a limit of minutes, and we used all his minutes Unfortunately I thought he would have helped us off the piece as well. ‘
With Korkmaz on the line for three free throws and the Sixers with 6.6 seconds left in the third point, the team probably entered the final quarter with a lead. However, Korkmaz missed two of the three wrong shots, and Collin Sexton (28 points on 11-for-27 shooting) conceded a layup of his last mission. Shake Milton (11 points, six rebounds) ended the game over Korkmaz.
The zone can not solve everything
The Sixers turned to a zone at the start of the second period in which Simmons and Matisse Thybulle appeared at the top of the defense. Cleveland responded by using its own zone, meaning an NBA game had a rare handful of zone by zone minutes.
Neither team gained a significant lead during that period. Thybulle had nice moments on both sides of the floor, including a steal that led to a Simmons dunk and a three-pointer from the right wing.
Still, the Cavs were able to find the soft spot of the zone a few times, and the Sixers’ attack could not manage open shots consistently.
The Cavs achieved transitional success early enough and scored 15 quick points within the first 15 minutes, and the sloppiness of the Sixers certainly did not help their case. Overall, the Sixers did not have the energy and sharpness in the first half. Rivers trailed 5:58 in the second quarter and his team was 13, dissatisfied when the Sixers started another possession that did not have a clear goal.
A zone remains a meaningful change of pace for the team, but occasions in which it dramatically shifts the game’s momentum and inflames the Sixers as of January 31 against the Pacers are unusual.
Embiid gets back on track
Although Embiid missed a spin in the Sixers’ first possession, it was immediately clear that the ball was best for him to throw the ball.
Rivers remarked after Thursday’s game that he prefers that Embiid not actively try to trespass, but one can understand why that would be tempting, given Embiid’s ability to do so. Dealing with his size and skill legally is no easy task, and he is very good at it.
The All-Star man shot 14 for 16 from the foul line, the tenth consecutive game in which he had ten or more free throw attempts. Embiid entered on Saturday after shooting just 26.4 percent off the floor over his last three games, but he looks like one of the NBA’s most sluggish players.
The Cavs doubles teamed up with Embiid more frequently in the second half and adopted the general strategy of asking other Sixers to beat them. Embiid mostly found the right balance between passing to the open man and pushing through contact to score where possible.
“I thought, especially in the fourth and overtime, we were given a lot of looks to post me,” Embiid said. ‘We scored a lot from it, whether it was me or me who kicked the ball out and (teammates) swung it. to the other side. It’s hard to just keep going. It becomes easier for the other team to watch. Now you have another threat like Tobias where you can give him the ball, drive a pick-and-roll – and I can also think that this is where we missed him a lot in half court. ”
Simmons’ continued development as a goal scorer in the post was another positive takeaway for the Sixers. Cleveland did not have the right staff to handle him, especially not on a night when the team was so cut short, and Simmons was aggressive. He seems to be comforted by his right springboard, a shot he drills during his typical forwards routine with assistant coach Sam Cassell. Fair runners and drivers are also now a regular part of his arsenal.
In recent seasons, Simmons has mostly been concerned about stepping down from the post and looking for the floor for open cutters. Ultimately, Rivers and the Sixers believe he could be a bona fide multi-level low postal threat.
Simmons’ seven turnovers were the biggest downside to his performance. He has turned the ball around 13 times in the Sixers’ two defeats this season against Cleveland.