PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers led the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers 100-89 with 8:47 left at home. With the Cavaliers missing Darius Garland and star guard Donovan Mitchell, it looked like the Sixers were going to seal an important win.
Instead, the Cavaliers dug deep, led by sophomore guard Jalen Tyson, and Tyson found Evan Mobley for a layup to beat the 76ers 117-115 with 4.8 seconds left. Tyson stepped up for Cleveland, shooting 13 of 17 from the field and 7 of 9 from three-point range to score 39 points. The Sixers can’t slow him down because he’s the story.
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“Obviously, we’re paying a lot of attention to Mitchell and trying to do some things there,” coach Nick Nurse said. “I mean, listen, he made every 3-pointer, I mean, he’s a great 3-point shooter, but he hit a bunch of hard floaters at the rim. He played really well. I thought a lot of the things we did were very effective. He just kept making plays for himself.”
Tyrese Maxey and the 76ers got some big plays out of Mitchell, who scored 13 points on just 4-of-13 shooting on the night. He shot 4-for-7 from 3-point range but 0-for-6 from 2, so the Sixers will take advantage of this opportunity. He previously scored 35 points in helping the Cavaliers defeat the 76ers on Wednesday.
So, just like in the playoff series, Philadelphia made adjustments and focused on slowing him down. Unfortunately for the Sixers, that’s how Tyson left.
“It’s a fine line,” Maxey explained. “We treated it like it was the playoffs tonight. Like the last game was Game 1, and then tonight, shots, sometimes in the playoffs, you just say, ‘Listen, this guy can’t beat us tonight,’ and that’s what we did. We let other guys beat us, and he did. I mean, he hit the shots. He played really well. So, definitely a good line, but we know he’s shooting — like, at least 48 from three right now. So, it’s tough.”
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Tyson entered the night averaging 4.1 shots per game and shooting 45.8% from the field. Maxey may have exaggerated his current 48% 3-point shooting percentage, but Tyson provided the Cavaliers with a late charge. He scored eight points in the fourth quarter to help Cleveland rally and seal the win.
“Obviously, we had a couple really big offensive possessions where, you know, we turned the ball over, which led to them making quick shots,” Nurse added. “We got fouled. Mitchell got a steal. Then we had one possession and, I thought, we shot the ball really poorly. The game started on a break, so maybe it just wasn’t, not enough points to get our defense set up. We were in scramble mode late in the game, transition defense there.”
The Sixers now hope to bounce back when they host the Indiana Pacers on Monday.
This article originally appeared on 76ers Wired: Tyrese Maxey, Sixers explain Cavs’ tough home loss to Jaylon Tyson
