Three reasons the Sixers beat the Cavaliers
The Sixers bench was so strong that it nearly outscored the Cleveland starters.
The 76ers ended a 4-2 road trip with Thursday’s 114-94 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Besides ending on an upswing, they also avoided a season sweep by the Cavs, who won the first two games in the series.
Here are three reasons the Sixers won.
The bench
Even though Joel Embiid missed his 10th consecutive game with a left knee bone bruise, the Sixers bench was dominant. Mike Scott started for Embiid at center and the rest of the reserves dominated. The Sixers bench outscored Cleveland’s by 65-24.
Shake Milton led the way with 27 points, shooting 10-for-14, including 5-for-7 from beyond the arc. Dwight Howard added 18 points and 15 rebounds and couldn’t be contained inside.
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Here is an example of the bench coming up big on both ends of the court, with Howard getting the block and Milton finding Matisse Thybulle on the fast break dunk.
What is interesting is that Cleveland’s starters barely outscored the Sixers bench, 70-65.
Seth’s start
When Seth Curry is hitting from the outside, the Sixers are a different team. Curry had 11 first-quarter points and 16 in the first half when the game was still close. The Sixers led just 58-56 at halftime and Curry helped keep them in the game.
Curry finished with 19 points, hitting half of his 10 three-point attempts, and when the Sixers needed early offense, he was there to provide it. The Sixers are 17-0 when Curry shoots 50% or better from three-point range.
Dominance on the boards
The Sixers outrebounded Cleveland, 55-40, and that included a 12-to-4 advantage on the offensive glass. Too many times Cleveland would shoot threes with nobody but Sixers under the basket. Ben Simmons, who did not have a good shooting game (2-for-11) had as many offensive rebounds (4) as the entire Cavaliers team.
It doesn’t get any more dominating on the offensive glass than this follow-up jam by Howard.
Howard finished with a plus-20 rating in one of his best games of the year.