Despite a strong fight from the Philadelphia 76ers, late-game heroics from LeBron James and Kyle Korver inevitably led to a Cleveland Cavaliers win.
This was another loss for the Philadelphia 76ers, continuing a rough couple of weeks for a team that got off to a promising start. Their 13-12 record is understandable given the difficulty of their schedule, but some of these losses (namely Phoenix and Los Angeles) came in games the Sixers were supposed to win.
Tonight’s game featured two short-handed teams, with Philly missing Joel Embiid and the Cleveland Cavaliers sitting Kevin Love. The Cavs were also on the second night of a back-to-back following a tough loss in Indiana on Friday night.
Those factors all contributed to an ugly game, with both teams having stretches where turnovers seemed to dominate their offense. LeBron still put together 30 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists though, so not all was lost on their side of things.
Philly got off to a hot start, taking a 13-3 lead before falling behind by a point at the end of the first quarter. Cleveland pulled away a bit in the second quarter, but a third quarter firestorm from J.J. Redick and Robert Covington (finally!) helped spark a Philly comeback.
Trevor Booker was also awesome tonight, taking his T.J. McConnell comparison to heart and showing all kinds of hustle that we never saw from, say, Jahlil Okafor. That led to 12 points and eight rebounds in 20 minutes off the bench.
Philly had the lead for a decent chunk of the fourth quarter, but fell apart late. They didn’t make a single field goal for essentially the last five minutes of the game, while Kyle Korver and Jae Crowder managed to drill some important threes on Cleveland’s end. You can’t fall off a cliff late against Cleveland and expect to pull out a victory.
Perhaps most notable occurence tonight, however, was something that didn’t directly impact the outcome of the game. Robert Covington took a hard fall into the first row late in the fourth after diving for a loose ball. He was on the ground (on his stomach, according to the broadcast) for an extended period of time, and eventually got helped off the floor by Trevor Booker and Jacob Pullen before heading to the locker room.
He was apparently rubbing his lower back while on the ground, so that would seem to rule out any significant knee or leg injury. Still, it’s scary to see anybody take that kind of fall and stay on the ground for that long. Prayers are up for Covington, and hopefully he’s good moving forward.
Next: Sixers are slowly depleting their assets
All in all, the Sixers are a young team who have hit some road bumps lately, largely due to both injuries and inconsistency. Redick and Covington found their shots in the second half, though, so hopefully that trend continues over the next few games.