The Philadelphia 76ers dropped a tough one on the road.
The Philadelphia 76ers fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers on the second night of a back-to-back on the road.
Joel Embiid missed the game due to back tightness.
All of these things aren’t excuses, they are facts. It was not a good night to be a Philadelphia fan.
Last year, Philadelphia had a horrendous road record of 12-26. So far this year, they waited to pull away from the New York Knicks and tonight get blown away by Cleveland.
The teams traded baskets back and forth until a Ben Simmons and-one gave Philadelphia a 51-12 lead. From there, it was meticulous domination by Cleveland. They would close the quarter on a 17-9 run to lead 29-24.
The second quarter saw a slow start turn into a 15-4 run by Cleveland in route to a 35-point quarter which gave them a 64-50 lead heading into the half.
The third quarter was more of the same, but with lesser known names. Cleveland won the quarter by seven points as Philadelphia began to dip deep into their bench.
The game resembled a glorified walk-through by the end with Cleveland enjoying a free flowing offense and Philadelphia played the end of the bench. One thing stayed the same, Cleveland outscored Philadelphia in the quarter.
Tough to win the game when the opponent wins all four quarters.
After 40 games, this could be chalked up to a bad night. This early, this bad — it feels like Philadelphia needs to start experimenting with the lineup and Doc Rivers needs to push Simmons for more, one way or the other.
Philadelphia will aim to get back on track as they take on the Toronto Raptors back at home in the Wells Fargo Center at 7 PM E.T. on Tuesday.