After one of their worst losses of the season, and possibly THE worst, the Cavs return home to take on the Sixers for the fourth and final time this year. The Cavs won in overtime in Philly in November but lost twice in February by scores of 104-97 in Philly (with Mitchell out) and 123-121 in Cleveland (with Mitchell scoring 36).
Joel Embiid missed both February games but the Sixers won all the same. Buddy Hield and Kelly Oubre each had 24 points in the win in Cleveland, combining to go 7-for-11 from deep.
The Sixers are in 8th place, 1.5 games out of 6th, which they would obviously like to get to in order to avoid the play-in. For the season they are 18-18 on the road and 10-20 since Embiid went down.
Both teams have had one day off.
The Sixers are 26-8 with Embiid on the floor and 13-26 when he does not play. So basically the Cavs are playing a home game against a 13-26 team. However, it’s a team that is 2-0 against the Cavs without Joel.
In the last two weeks the Sixers are -2.5 in non-garbage time point differential while the Cavaliers are -8.4. However, Evan Mobley and Max Strus have just returned to the lineup and Donovan Mitchell may return tonight.
Tyrese Maxey leads the Sixers in scoring at 25.8 ppg on 45% from the field and 38% on 3’s. Tobias Harris, Kelly Oubre, and Buddy Hield are next at 17, 15, and 13 ppg. De’Anthony Melton averages 11.5 ppg but he is out. Cameron Payne averages 10 ppg off the bench.
Their current starting lineup is Maxey at PG, Kyle Lowry (who turned 38 this week) at SG, Oubre and Harris at the forward spots, and C Mo Bamba. Paul Reed, Payne, Hield and 35-year-old Nic Batum come off the bench. Lowry may be 38 but in two games against the Cavs he is averaging 22.5 points on 54% from the field and 10-for-19 on 3’s. The little MF’er just won’t go away.
Reed, Payne, Maxey, Hield, and Batum are all shooting between 36-39% on 3’s.
The Sixers are averaging just 102.8 points per game in 15 games in March. Embiid being out is really impacting their ability to score. Paul Reed, however, his hitting 41% of his 3’s in March so the Cavs can’t leave him open on pick-and-pops. Same for Mo Bamba, who is hitting 37.5% from deep in March. The Sixers have five players who can shoot 3’s on the floor at all times.
The return of Mitchell (assuming he plays), Strus, and Mobley to the lineup will obviously give the Cavs a big lift. And they usually bounce back and play well after a bad game.
“That was a really bad loss for us,” Strus said following the Cavs’ 118-111 defeat to the floundering and directionless Charlotte Hornets. “We just didn’t play hard. Nobody wanted to play defense tonight. That was our problem. Can’t lose to teams like this at this point in the season.”
Bickerstaff called his players “lazy”.
I don’t think we brought the right mental approach,” Bickerstaff said…It’s on me to do a better job and figure out what the problem is. It’s my responsibility to figure it out.”
I’m expecting more intensity tonight, especially now that the Cavs have fallen behind the Knicks into 4th place. But they are 0-2 against the new look Sixers with Embiid out so they need to figure out what they’ve been doing wrong against this team and correct it - now.
Injury report
CLEVELAND
Dean Wade - OUT (knee)
Ty Jerome - OUT (ankle)
PHILADELPHIA
Robert Covington - OUT (knee)
Joel Embiid - OUT (knee)
De'Anthony Melton - OUT (back)