The Philadelphia 76ers started off strong, but never recovered from a blowout in the second quarter to lose to the Cleveland Cavaliers 122-105.
Less than two minutes into the game, Kyrie Irving shoved Justin Anderson into the Sixers bench and earned himself a flagrant foul. Interesting start. It seemed this shove was a retaliation from what looked like a shove from Anderson on LeBron James (although it looked like a flop, which might be why it wasn’t called).
The first quarter was actually pretty fun as two not so good defenses made it look like a poor man’s all-star game. There were five ties and 10 lead changes. The Cavs did pull away towards the end of the quarter. The Cavs went up by 7 and ended the quarter up 32-29.
The Cavs scored 8 straight to start the second quarter and lead by 11. The Sixers really struggled with their shot in this quarter, and the Cavaliers continued to expand their lead, going up by 23. They were up by 18 by halftime.
The second quarter just was a terrible quarter. By the half, the Sixers had 10 turnovers and also gave up 10 offensive rebounds. This combination gave the Cavaliers 11 more shot attempts than the Sixers, and the Cavaliers ended up with 10 more made shots. It would appear if the Sixers took care of the ball better and grabbed defensive rebounds, things would certainly improve.
Hahaha.
The Sixers ended up down by 32 points in the 3rd quarter, as the Sixers continued to turn the ball over and give up offensive boards. Very impressive strategy for the Sixers.
It remains to be seen if this will be considered the game where the Cavaliers “flipped the switch” on their defensive woes. It’s simply a shame the Sixers were the victims of a refocused Defending NBA Champion. The Cavaliers were past 100 points in the 3rd quarter alone. Again, the Sixers gave the Cavaliers extra possessions leading to extra shots to get to this high amount of points this early.
To finish the narrative of the turnovers and rebounds, by the end of the game, the Sixers had 17 turnovers and allowed 13 offensive rebounds. The Cavaliers took those extra possessions and took 13 more shots and made 10 more shots than the Sixers. Looking back, since the second quarter, the Sixers allowed 3 offensive rebounds and had 7 turnovers, which actually isn't bad at all, but it didn't matter.
The season is almost over. Before the game started, the Sixers were dealt a blow in the form of no Jahlil Okafor and Robert Covington for the rest of the season. Injuries have been an issue for this team, and fans are starting to point to the medical staff as simply not doing a good job at this point.
It remains to be seen if that's the case, but watching the Sixers limp their way through the rest of the season hurts a Sixers fan in many ways. This writer, a big fan, was very disappointed in how February and March have played out. Here's hoping April goes a lot better. And here is also hoping the balls fall in the right place for the NBA Draft.
Sixers visit the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.
