1 stud and 1 dud for Cavs in their loss to 76ers on Wednesday
By Cyrus Felger
When looking back at their last contest on Wednesday night against the Philadelphia 76ers, the Cleveland Cavaliers started the game off slow, trailing 72-59 at halftime. They came out the gate hot in the 3rd quarter scoring 31 points and holding the 76ers to only 13. A mix of tough makes from Philly and costly mistakes from the Cavs led to their demise falling 118-114, but it turned into a heck of a contest, particularly with how Cleveland started so slow.
With All-Star center Jarrett Allen out with a fractured finger, the Cavs knew going into this game that MVP favorite Joel Embiid was going to be a lot to handle. Embiid scorched the Cavs finishing the game with 35 points, 17 rebounds, and 5 assists.
The Cavs were also missing forward Dean Wade (knee soreness), who has been a defensive anchor of sorts for them this season. Lamar Stevens got the nod filling in for Wade admirably only seeing 18 minutes of action but playing some solid defense as usual and had 8 points on 66% from the field.
All-star Darius Garland had another day at the office pouring in 22 points, to go with 7 assists and 5 rebounds, but struggled from the field shooting a measly 33% and going 25% from 3. These shooting struggles along with a weak fourth quarter where the team really could have used him prevented me from putting him as the stud of the night. The stats were there but he shot the ball too poorly and was saved by his free throws.
Rookie sensation Evan Mobley had a weak game scoring 13 points to go along with 9 rebounds, and 3 assists. Mobley hit his averages but with Allen out of the lineup and him hitting a career-high 30 points against the LA Clippers Monday night you just wanted more out of him.
He is a rookie after all and I will give him a pass considering he was busy either manning up Embiid or playing help defense. As you can see from Embiid’s totals Mobley had his hands full. For these reasons, I will grant him a pass from the dud of the night.
The loss pushes the Cavs to a 39-30 record and with the red-hot Toronto Raptors on their heels they need to play with a sense of urgency or else they may just find themselves in the play-in and could potentially miss the playoffs altogether.
With that said, let’s take a look at the Cavaliers stud from this close loss to the Sixers on Wednesday, before then hitting on the Cavs dud for this one.