Late Run Propels Cavaliers by Sixers 104-93

By Sean Kennedy

Playing a Cleveland team trying to re-insert themselves back into the playoff picture this season, Philadelphia hung around all game before actually taking a 74-73 in the fourth quarter lead. However, the Cavaliers immediately answered with a 9-0 run that put the game out of reach. Spencer Hawes (17 points, 12 rebounds) and Thaddeus Young (16 points, 6 rebounds) paced the Sixers, but were done in by a combined 5-24 shooting effort from Michael Carter-Williams and Evan Turner. Philadelphia will play their final preseason game Wednesday against the Timberwolves.

Box Score

Notable Observations: 

• There were some serious growing pains for Sixers rookie Michael Carter-Williams in this contest. Not only did he shoot just 1-11 from the floor, but MCW could not contain Kyrie Irving (17 points, 12 assists) on the defensive end. Although Carter-Williams used his length to accrue 4 steals, he didn’t appear to have the lateral quickness necessary to stay in front of the lightning-fast Irving. He’ll need to learn how to take better angles defensively going forward. Certainly there is no crime in his struggling against one of the best point guards in the league before playing an actual NBA regular season game; still, you would have liked to see a better effort out of the Syracuse alum. Uncle Drew won this round.
• With Evan Turner making his return to the Ohio State court where he dominated during his college days, he seemed determined to try to put on a show for his home crowd fans. As expected, this situation let to plenty of forced plays from the former Buckeye, who finished 4-13 with 5 turnovers. Unfortunately, Sixers fans will be treated to plenty of similar performances throughout the season as Turner tries to force the issue on a team largely bereft of playmakers. Good for tanking but difficult on the eyes.
• The couple-minutes sequence in the fourth quarter perfectly summed up where Royce White is at this point. First, he led the break and made a Showtime-Lakers pass to Tony Wroten for an and-1 that put the Sixers ahead. However, two possessions later he picked up his sixth foul and a technical arguing the call. The guy clearly has all talent in the world but due to his lengthy layoff from full game-action, he struggles with the speed of the game, resulting in plenty of fouls and turnovers (5 in this contest). Fortunately, White finds himself in the perfect situation, playing for a team that really doesn’t care about victories where he can assimilate himself back into game speed.

Tanking Implications:

Much like the Oklahoma City game earlier this preseason, this loss was the type fans will hope to see throughout the regular season: plenty of fight before ultimately falling in the fourth quarter. The team largely took good shots but just don’t have enough average shooters on the roster to make the opposition pay most nights. The high volume of turnovers is one thing I would like the team to clean up, even if they are tanking, but that is an inevitable product of having so many young guys out there and Brett Brown’s preferred pace of play. 4/5 tanks.