Cavs Sneak Past Sixers, Stay Perfect

The 76ers would not go away. A young and pesky club, Philadelphia used several long stretches and runs to push the Cavaliers to the brink of being upset at the Wells Fargo Center. LeBron James led the way with 25 points and 14 assists, adding eight rebounds for good measure.

Offensively, things continue to operate smoothly. Defensively, the Cavs continue to struggle a bit, though it was refreshing to see them get some big stops in spots they had to have them in.

Here are some takeaways from tonight’s tilt in Philadelphia:

1. The 76ers play hard for their coach. They get into their stuff quickly on offense, and execute it. It falls apart, of course, because of the lack of dynamic high level NBA talent on the roster. But they play hard for 48 minutes. Brown is a gem.
2. The Cavaliers remain at their best when the ball has an energy in and of itself. The ball popped around in a lively and dynamic fashion, particularly in the late stages of the first quarter, and the start of the second. When the ball is moving, the offense is fluid, and the tempo is frenetic, there isn’t a team on the planet that can beat Cleveland in a seven gamer.
3. Philly’s run in the first half came mostly as a result of sloppy passing and the loss of a sense of urgency from Cleveland on both ends of the floor. Guys didn’t look engaged. As good as they are when they play like I mentioned above, they look nearly as bad when things go into autopilot.
4. Joel Embiid, Three Point Shooter is becoming one of my favorite NBA things this season. He’s a handful to guard as it is, and that shot makes him impossible to deal with. He’s an athletic freak with quick feet and careful footwork that runs like a deer and jumps like a wing player. Insane.
5. All season so far, Tyronn Lue has done a nice job of getting runs stopped. Gone are the Blatt or Brown days where guys were made to “play through it” when teams went on sustained runs. Lue puts an end to those situations quickly, and the Cavs execute the after timeout plays (ATOs) with an alarming efficiency.
6. The Cavs had to spend a lot of time at the end of quarters rebounding from, or fending off runs from Philly. Channing Frye was key in each situation not only knocking down open threes, but also in moving the ball on offense to the open man. Including a great pass to a diving LeBron James for a layup after Philadelphia made a…confusing…decision to double down on Frye in the post before he even put down a dribble.
7. Not that this is new, but Tristan Thompson remains the best offensive rebounder in basketball. Another thing with Tristan this season is that he gets the ball up to the rim much more quickly than in the past when he would get stuck taking a dribble to gather, and then have to go up through a defender.
8. The officiating in the game was very inconsistent, at best. Despite it being spotty, the officials found a way to make it downright awful in the last two minutes of the fourth.
9. Ersan Ilyasova was the second best player on Philly tonight, and that was almost enough to get a W against the defending world champions. That’s not an actual sentence that I thought I would have to type tonight.
10. The Fox Sports Ohio announcing team seemed to dislike the 76ers’ decision to not use a time out immediately before their final possession. I actually thought it was the right way to do it. You push the tempo and try to catch the defense in chaos. If that doesn’t happen, or doesn’t result in a look that you like, you still have time to call the timeout, regroup, and trust your execution that has been so good all night. Really smart stuff.

James, Irving, and company will be back on the floor on Tuesday, returning home to clash with Dwight Howard, Dennis Schroder, and the rest of the Atlanta Hawks.