As a fan of the Sixers, take yourself back to the middle of August. You sit down at your computer and glance at the newly announced Philadelphia Sixers schedule for the 2014-15 season. You know the team is going to have a rough season and remain at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, so you look for those few home games that feature stars from around the league you wish to see live in action. You notice it quickly becomes rare to see a “must see” game on the Sixers schedule but then you stumble across January 5th versus the Cleveland Cavaliers. You immediately say to yourself, “That’s the game” you would be willing to pay top dollar, to see the triple-threat of all-stars assembled by Cavs Owner Dan Gilbert. Gilbert was able to lure Lebron James back home to Cleveland this summer and acquired all-star Kevin Love in a trade with the Minnesota T’Wolves. With the expectations the Cavs held coming into the season, fans were sure this game would be a must see at the Wells Fargo Center even if the Sixers were to get demolished, and it would be arguably the most anticipated game, at home, this season.
Unlike what fans and media members predicted for the Cavs start to their season, they struggled and have recently been dealing with nagging injuries to two of their stars, Lebron James and Kyrie Irving. They also lost their starting Center, Anderson Varejao, earlier this season due to an Achilles injury. James has been suffering from a knee injury throughout the season and has never been entirely healthy to give the Cavs his best play on the court. Kyrie has been suffering from a back injury that has kept him sidelined for a few weeks. As for who many people considered the key to the Cavs success, the play of star power forward Kevin Love has been deemed a subpar start to his season. His inconsistent play has under the microscope for the past few weeks now, as people wonder if Love can be the “third piece” to a winning team. He seems to play much more freely and consequently much better when playing without his other star teammates. The Cavs traveled to Philadelphia as a team with many concerns and with injuries forcing bench players to step up in timely situations, their record hasn’t exactly met expectations.
As for the Sixers, they came into the season with virtually zero expectations so fans have not been surprised watching their constant struggles night in and night out, especially when playing at their home in Wells Fargo Center where they are 0-14 on the season, tying a franchise record for most consecutive home losses to begin a season. Their seven most recent games had been away from home as they finished their holiday road trip with a 2-5 record, losing their last five. But there was something different about Wells Fargo Center tonight. The place was packed for the first time this season. Not because of the Sixers but because of everyone expecting to see Lebron James in a Cavs uniform again, playing alongside Kyrie Irving, and oh, don’t forget Kevin Love. Turns out, Love was the only one of the three to suit up tonight for the Cavs but fans still flocked to south Philadelphia to witness the game. With the Injuries hurting the Cavs depth in every aspect of the game, it just seemed ironic that the team with the NBA’s lowest expectations coming into the season would upset the team with the highest expectations heading into the campaign.
As for the game, it was a battle from the opening tip. Both teams came out a bit slow and the Cavs jumped out to the first significant lead in the game in the beginning of the second quarter. Cleveland controlled the second quarter and seemed to be taking complete control of the game as they went into halftime holding a 50-37 advantage over the Sixers. The Cavs were playing lock-down defense throughout the first half but the Sixers didn’t help themselves offensively by any means. They only shot about 36 percent during the first half of play and turnovers were again an issue they couldn’t resolve.
As the Cavs extended their halftime lead to a game-high 17 point advantage during the third quarter, Sixers Coach Brett Brown rallied the team as they began their quest to catch the Cavs. After a tough road back, Cleveland’s lead vanished as Tony Wroten drove into the lane and hit a muscle shot that cut the Cavs lead to a measly two points. Soon after, he tied the game at 88 with another bucket. More importantly, when the Sixers trailed by just one with less than 20 seconds remaining they gave the ball to, guess who? Tony Wroten! Wroten sliced through the Cleveland jersey’s and nailed a go-ahead layup, for 2 of his 20 points on the night, with just nine seconds left on the game clock. Two free throws after the go-ahead bucket sealed the 95-92 win for the Sixers.
Kevin Love stepped up and played extremely well for the Cavaliers in the loss. He finished with 28 points while also accumulating 19 rebounds in the losing effort. Games similar to these continue to give people the impression that Love has to be in control to be successful, rather than being a very good role player on a team full of stars. When Lebron and Kyrie aren’t on the floor, Love plays like he did in his past years with Minnesota, but when he’s playing alongside Lebron and Kyrie his stats suffer.
For the Sixers, Wroten led the team with 20 points and multiple timely baskets giving the Sixers momentum. Michael Carter-Williams had a much better night compared to ones he’s become accustomed to lately by scoring 18 points on 8/19 shooting, as well as 13 assists that didn’t go unnoticed. Nerlens Noel’s struggles continued as he only accounted for 6 points on 2/9 shooting on the night. Robert Covington posted a typical game by his standards with 16 points on 4/9 shooting. K.J. McDaniels and Henry Sims each scored 12 points in the winning effort. The Sixers improve to 5-28 on the season and collect their third win in their last eight tries. The Cavaliers fall to 19-16 on the young season and although that would be considered a comfortable record by most NBA teams, Cleveland has many questions they need to figure out if they want to become serious contenders for an NBA Championship.
Next up: Wednesday vs Milwaukee, 7 pm Tip.
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