Cleveland Cavaliers: 3 pluses in Cavs’ knock out of Philadelphia 76ers

The Cleveland Cavaliers picked up their first road win of the year with an unforeseen 121-112 win over the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Cleveland Cavaliers played their most complete game of the season against a quality opponent in the Philadelphia 76ers. Cleveland started out fast by grabbing an early 15-point lead thanks to strong first quarters from Collin Sexton and Cedi Osman. The Sixers flipped the script as they outscored the Cavs by eight in the second quarter, 31-23.

The game was up for grabs in the fourth quarter, but the Cavs were able to pull away thanks to a 14-point quarter from their bench heat wave, Jordan Clarkson, who leads them in fourth-quarter scoring with 5.8 per game, per NBA.com.

The Cleveland Cavaliers were a well-balanced attack offensively as they finished with five players with 18 or more points, and shot 52.7 percent from the field overall. Rodney Hood led the way with 25 points on five-of-seven shooting from three-point range.

Cedi Osman built on his strong showing against the Los Angeles Lakers with a 20-point outing on seven-of-14 shooting with eight rebounds. He was not forcing it against the Sixers, and when that’s the case, he and the Cavs are much better off.

Osman was taking advantage of mismatches on a number of occasions against Philly’s slower bigs, and that was key for Cleveland getting easier baskets in the half-court; Osman also got some nice spot-up opportunities, too.

Tristan Thompson continued to lead by his actions on the court with 18 points and 13 rebounds, and was holding his own against Philadelphia star center Joel Embiid.

Here’s what we learned from a quality win.