No Joel Embiid or Paul George for this “back-to-back”, without forgetting Tyrese Maxey. This means that Darius Garland (25 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds) and Donovan Mitchell (23 points, 13 rebounds, 9 assists) had room to take all the light on the side Cavalierseven if the rookie Jared McCain (34 points, 10 assists) overshadowed them for the Sixers.
On arrival, it is in any case Cleveland who leaves from Philadelphia with victory (114-106). And this is the 13th success in a row for the Cavs, still undefeated and leaders in the East at the start of the season, while their evening opponents occupy a very sad 14th place in this same conference.
On paper, the match seemed well within the Cavaliers’ reach, but they still had to force themselves to win. The fault of Jared McCain and a collective of Sixers released, because absolutely not expected.
Fortunately, Donovan Mitchell was there to pull out all the stops in the last three minutes (11 points), just like Darius Garland in the third quarter (13 points), and these boosts were enough to put this team away from Philly , certainly valuable but logically limited in duration.
WHAT TO REMEMBER
– Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell responded. The Cavaliers were clearly not having a good night, as evidenced by their first half where they lacked skill and concentration on the rebound or increased their errors with the ball in hand, but they held on. Kenny Atkinson’s men can thus thank their “backcourt”, between Darius Garland who put them back on track after returning from the locker room with his aggressiveness towards the circle, then Donovan Mitchell who raised the tone in the “money-time” with the last 11 points of his team and a hot shot from 3-points. The bosses showed the group the way.
– The 4th best “all-time” start for Cleveland. It wasn’t easy, but for the sixth time in history, a team started a season 13-0. These Cavs succeed the 2015/16 Warriors (24-0), the 1948/49 Capitols (15-0), the 1993/94 Rockets (15-0), the 1957/58 Celtics (14-0) and the 2002 Mavericks /03 (14-0). It’s unclear how high the Ohio franchise will climb, but the more wins they accumulate, the more complicated it will become because they will have a target on their back. The next match is in any case scheduled at home against Chicago on Friday.
– Guerschon Yabusele holder. Without Joel Embiid or Andre Drummond, “Guersch” was started at position 5 by Nick Nurse. His first start of the season and his first in the NBA since April… 2019. Not an easy task against the Evan Mobley – Jarrett Allen doublet, but the Frenchman did what he could, in his register: 10 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists in 31 minutes (at 4/10).
– Magic at McCain. What if we had to start looking at Philadelphia to find the best rookie at the start of the season? For four games, Jared McCain has averaged 25.5 points, stringing together three outings with 20+ points and sending his “career high” from his first start, with great 3-point skill and nerve that is a pleasure to see in attack. . A real good surprise for this 16th choice of the last Draft, trained at a good school (Duke), in the sad start of the Sixers.
