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There's really not much to say about a game like that, and I won't say much. Many of us are busy and preoccupied with real life, and it appeared the 76ers were elsewhere last night as well.
This had the makings of a trap game. The Sixers fought valiantly the night before in a comeback win against the Raptors, with many of the 76ers major players having exhausted themselves in the fourth quarter comeback, and the Cavaliers were well rested with their last game having been against the 76ers 3 nights earlier.
Combine that with this being a revenge game for the Cavs, and the seemingly common phenomenon of role players momentarily stepping up when a star gets hurt, and this had all the makings of a game being exponentially harder than the talent level indicates it should be.
But these were the Cavs, man. Kyrie Irving was their entire offense, and they had the 29th ranked defense coming into the game. I expected a struggle. Cleveland leading after one, Sixers maintaining a small lead through 3, maybe a little see-sawing throughout, but the 76ers eventually pulling away and finding a way to win.
But they couldn't. This was a gassed team. They came out lethargic. Their jumpers were off. Every time they made a run to climb closer, they couldn't maintain the momentum. At one point they got to within 52-50, erasing a 19 point deficit. Within 2 minutes the Cleveland lead was once again in double figures. They couldn't defend through pick and rolls or screens to save their life, and they were a step slow closing out on shooters.
I'm willing to give them a mulligan, but man, that hurt.
We could go in-depth discussing every one of Jeremy Pargo's open looks (Pargo had 12 career three pointers made heading into tonight. He was 4-8 against the 76ers), or every one of Anderson Varejao's 7 offensive rebounds. You could try to look at the positive and see Evan Turner's near triple-double.
But really, just erase this game and move on. We have Oklahoma City at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday night.
Player of the game: Evan Turner
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