The Philadelphia 76ers got off to a very good start on Wednesday against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The ball was moving, the offense was humming, and they were getting good shots on their way to building a lead as large as 17.
The Sixers shot 58.7% from the floor in the first half with 14 assists and they held a 72-59 lead over the Cavaliers. That offense was just enough as they were able to hang on for a 118-114 win on the road on Wednesday.
Things got tougher after halftime as Philadelphia shot just 42.4% from the floor and they had 10 assists, seven coming in the fourth quarter, as they were able to overcome a bumpy third quarter.
“In the first half, I think we had six layups, point-blank, missed five of them,” said coach Doc Rivers. “A dunk and four layups, you’ll live with those because most nights you’ll make those. I thought in the first half, we ended up 12-for-32 from the 3, that means the second half, we made more because we were wide open the first half, just missed them, you know? So offensively, not a lot to be upset at.”
Philadelphia shot 26.3% in the third quarter before shooting 64.3% in the fourth. Tyrese Maxey hit a couple of triples, Tobias Harris made a 3-pointer, and Georges Niang knocked down a big 3 in the fourth as well.
“Trust, trust,” said Maxey. “We trust each other. That’s huge. That’s huge and guys are shooting open shots. Me, Tobias, Danny (Green), letting the game come to you is really a big deal with us because we have so many different guys that can give us different production on different nights.”
Philadelphia needed all of that as the Cavs turned a 17-point deficit into a 5-point lead in the second half before the Sixers were able to come together and rally to get the win.
“Basketball’s a game of runs,” Maxey said. “We had a big one in the first half, they went on a big one at the end of third, into fourth, and we rallied the troops. We were resilient and we got stops, that enabled us to get run-outs and gets buckets and we executed on the offense and as well, late-game offense and so, a step in the right direction.”
For the Sixers, they got the win and that’s all that matters. Philadelphia being able to get contributions from up and down the lineup is something that was really important to get it done.
“Tonight, we got Tobias going, James got going late, of course, the big fella was going,” Maxey added. “I made a couple of shots. Danny hit big shots, Georges was huge down the stretch and Matisse (Thybulle) does Matisse.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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