The 76ers can’t overcome poor starts against competitive teams.
VJ Edgecombe looks exhausted.
And he and his teammates could really use Paul George, right about now.
Those three things stood out in the Sixers’ 132-121 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night at Rocket Arena.
Doomed again by a slow start
The Sixers (5-3) may have been sluggish from playing their second game in as many days. Whatever the reason, they failed to match the Cavs’ effort to start the game. Tyrese Maxey sandwiched three turnovers around a missed jumper on the Sixers’ first four possessions.
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After Edgecombe drained a three-pointer on their next possession, the Sixers missed five straight shots before Adem Bona committed their fourth turnover. The Cavs took advantage by building a commanding 17-4 lead with 7 minutes, 57 seconds left in the first quarter.
Cleveland (5-3) extended its lead to 17 points in a quarter in which Maxey had four points on 1-for-3 shooting, to go with four turnovers.
“I thought our offense kind of ignited their offense,” coach Nick Nurse told reporters. “Some turnovers to start kind of got us back on our heels a little bit.”
At that point, it appeared that the Sixers were destined to suffer their second straight loss of the season. And with seven turnovers in the quarter, they were on pace to surpass the turnover count in losses to the Chicago Bulls (16) and Boston Celtics (18). And they did just that, finishing with 19 turnovers.
However, Maxey, who finished with 27 points, seven rebounds, and nine assists, helped the Sixers raise their level of play. They tied the score at 72 two minutes into the third quarter.
But like in their loss to the Celtics, they couldn’t fully overcome their first-quarter woes. The Cavs responded with a 13-0 run to build a sizable lead and had a commanding 26-point cushion with 9:42 to play.
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“It seemed like if we didn’t score the ball, we were really struggling in transition,” Nurse said of what led to the Cavs’ second-half run. “So either we turned it over or we just missed a shot or a driving layup, whatever we missed. It was really hard to get back to their bigs at the rim. They kept finding them.
Obviously [Donovan] Mitchell was cooking, too. He was playing fast, and pulling up, and driving. And when we started sending multiple people at him, he started finding a lot of dunks. We were a little late on some of those. And we weren’t protecting the rim.