Cavaliers roll over Sixers 132-121
BY TIM SHIRER
CAVS BET WRITER
(CLEVELAND, OH) - The Cleveland Cavaliers got back to their winning ways on Sunday night when they defeated the Atlanta Hawks 117-109 at Rocket Arena after a short two games skid.
Wednesday night the Cavs welcomed the Philadelphia 76ers (5-2, 3-1 road) to Rocket Arena. Entering the game the Sixers led the all-time series 111-119, the Cavaliers however did lead at home (Cleveland Arena, Richfield Coliseum, RA) 64-50. The Cavs rolled to a 132-121 win to cut the Cavs deficit all time to seven games.
With 10:48 left in the first period just moments after getting a thunderous ovation from the sold out crowd Darius Garland, in his first action of the season, drained a three from the corner to give the Cavs a 5-2 lead.
With 8:53 left on the clock in the opening quarter Mitchell drove the paint hitting a layup to give the Cavs a double digit lead at 14-4. With 7:57 left and a steal by Jarrett Allen he hit Mitchell and Mitchell cashed it in with a three giving Cleveland a 17-4 lead. With 5:21 left in the first Lonzo Ball stole the ball from Tyrese Maxey found Evan Mobley and he hit a three giving the Cavs a 25-10 lead. The turnover by the Sixers was their fifth in the first six minutes of the game. With 4:36 left the Cavs lead was at 17 after Larry Nance, Jr., hit Mobley in the paint. Philadelphia was not going away as they cut the Cavs lead to 11 at 34-23 with 1:30 left when former Cavs big man Andre Drummond scored in the paint. Cleveland retaliated and outscored the Sixers 7-4 to end the quarter and lead 41-27. Mitchell led everyone in scoring with 15 first quarter points. Quinten Grimes and Kelly Oubre, Jr. paced the Sixers with six points apiece. The Cavs shot 52% (15 of29) from the field while the Sixers shot 47% (9 of 19). Turnovers were a significant factor as the Sixers turned the ball over six times resulting in 13 Cavs points while the Cavs turned it over just once and the Sixers could not score off of it.
With 9:50 left in the second quarter, Nance picked up his third foul when fouled Adem Bona. Edwards drained a three on the play. The play was reviewed, Bona shot his third free throw of the game and missed it, he was now 0-3 and the Cavs led 46-36. The Cavs lead was back up to 13 at 51-38 when Jaylon Tyson drained a three courtesy of Mobley with 8:50 left in the opening half. The Sixer then trimmed the Cavs lead to 51-45 when Drummond scored in the paint with 7:26 remaining on the second quarter Clock. The Cavs lead grew to 12 after Tyson drained his second three of the game with 5:31 left. The Sixers came right back cutting the lead to 63-58 on three by Maxey with 2:42 left before half. Cavs bench boss Kenny Atkinson took an immediate timeout. With 1:59 left the Cavs lead was back to double digits when Garland drained a three and the Cavs led 68-58. The Sixers scored the next seven points to cut the Cavs lead to 68-65 with :55 left when Maxey drained his second three of the game. When the clock ran out and the teams headed to the locker room for the 15 minute break the Cavs held a 70-67 lead. Mitchell was leading everyone in scoring at the break with 21 points. Maxey led the Sixers with 18. The Cavs shot 49% (25 of 51). The Sixers shot 48% (23 of 48). The Cavs hit 12 threes in the first half while Philly hit six. The turnover battle tightened as the Sixers only turned the ball over once in the second quarter and finished the have with seven. The Cavs turned it over five times in the second quarter and finished the half with six.
With 9:59 left in the third quarter the Sixers tied the game 72-72 when Oubre tied the game with a three pointer in front of the Cleveland bench. The Cavs scored the next five points capped off by an and one by Mobley giving the Cavs a 77-72 lead with 9:19 remaining in the third period. After a block by Tyson, he hit Mobley who took it to the other end to give the Cavs a 79-72 lead with 8:50 left. Philly coach Nick Nurse called an immediate timeout. With 7:10 left in the third, the Cavs lead was up to 85-72 when Mitchell hit Allen and he finished with a dunk. With 1:12 left on the clock the Cavs took their biggest lead of the game to that point as they went up 102-84 when Mitchell hit his sixth three of the contest and was now at 34. A 20 point lead was next for the Cavs when Sam Merrill hit a three with 1:01 left, putting Cleveland on top 105-85. The 20 point margin held as the Cavs ended the quarter on top 107-87. Mitchell was scorching hot, leading everyone in scoring with 36 points through three quarters. Allen and Mobley also had 20 points each. Allen also had 10 boards to notch his first double double of the young season. The difference in the third quarter was the same as in the opening quarter. The Sixers turned the ball over five times resulting in nine Cavaliers points. The Cavs turned it over twice resulting in just three Philly points.
With 10:22 left in the contest the Cavs lead ballooned to 24 when Mitchell hit Mobley in the paint for the dunk. Mitchell then hit the 40 point plateau with 9:42 left when he hit a floating jumper in the lane to give the Cavs a 116-90 lead. After it appeared that Atkinson would finish the game with most of his second team on the floor at the 6:10 mark something changed with 3:30 left and he inserted four of his five starters with only Tyson on the bench replaced by Merrill. Things did not go well as the Sixers outscored the Cavs 8-2 to cut the Cleveland lead to 128-115 with 2:15 left. Then cut the lead to 11 points with 1:38. After the Sixers trimmed the lead to nine points Mitchell got it back to double digits with his 44th point of the night with 1:15 left. With Cavs up 131-21 with 1:06 left, Atkinson finally cleared the bench. Mitchell exited the game with :25.1 left finishing with 46 points, eight assists and four rebounds as the Cavs rolled 132-121.
Mitchell led all scorers with his 46 points. Allen finished with 24 points and Mobley added 23. Garland, in his first action of the season finished with eight points, four assists and two boards in 26 minutes. Maxey and Grimes led the Sixers with 27 points each. Drummond notched a double double with 13 points and 13 boards.
Even in victory the Cavs were outrebounded again 43-34. The Cavs, however, did outshoot the Sixers from the field 53% (49 of 92) to 49% (44 of 90). They also were better than Philly from behind the three-point line 41% (18 of 44) to 38% (12 of 31). Probably the biggest key to Cavs win was forcing 19 Sixers turnover that resulted in 26 Cavs points. While the Sixers forced 15 Cavs miscues resulting in 17 points.
The Cavs will be back in action on Friday night when they travel to the nation’s capital to play the Washington Wizards at the Capital One Center at 7 pm. The Cavs lead the all-time series 121-118, but trail all-time when playing Washington 71-48. .
POSTED 11/05/2025 22:01
Lake County Sentinel
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Cavs superstar Donovan Mitchell brings the ball up the floor in the Cavs 132-121 win over the Philadelphia 76ers at Rocket Arena Wednesday night. Mitchell scored a season high 46 points in the win. Photo by Tommy Shirer
