Garland, Mobley lead Cavs to stress-free win over 76ers
The Cavaliers cruised to a 126-99 victory.
The Cleveland Cavaliers continued their string of good play as they picked up another stress-free win over the Philadelphia 76ers. They were the better team all night as they cruised to a 126-99 victory behind strong performances from their three best players.
The Cavaliers came out flat as they let the 76ers throw the first punch. Philadelphia started with an 8-2 run and extended it to a 25-14 lead just over midway through the first quarter. But the Cavs are too good at home to stay down for long. They closed the quarter on a 16-5 run to pull even. That was all the momentum they needed to eventually put this game out of reach.
The Cavs’ offense feels inevitable right now. They’re a finely tuned machine that will run up the score on you if you fall asleep for a few minutes. Andre Drummond found that out the hard way as Donovan Mitchell dropped him and nailed a three while he was still sitting on the floor with his palms in the air.
DONOVAN MITCHELL PUT ANDRE DRUMMOND ON HIS ASS pic.twitter.com/rkX8hAoYlG
— Dylan (@dillybar2145__) December 22, 2024
The Cavs outscored the Sixers 36-25 in the second quarter thanks to 12 points from Evan Mobley. He carried that over into the third quarter, extending the Cavs lead to 15 by throwing a dunk down on Drummond. Needless to say, it was a bad day for Drummond.
EVAN MOBLEY BRINGS THE BOOM pic.twitter.com/PViKPbxESU
— Tony Pesta (@Tony_Pesta) December 22, 2024
Mitchell had it going in the first half, scoring all 19 of his points. He was able to get wherever he wanted to on the floor and had the outside shot working as well. We know what these games look like. Last year, the Cavs needed stretches like this to have a good offense. Now, a run like this from Mitchell makes the already great offense seem unbeatable. This is especially true when Darius Garland has it going from distance like he did on Saturday.
Garland’s belief in his outside shot this season remains encouraging. He went 6-7 from three in 26 minutes and was confidentially hunting his shot. That’s exactly what you want to see from Garland. He finished with a team-high 26 points.
The Cavaliers never allowed the Sixers to make it a game in the second half. Just like they did against the Milwaukee Bucks the night before, they kept their foot on the gas and never allowed Philadelphia to think they had a chance of coming back. That’s the exact thing better teams do.
Mobley finished the evening with 22 points, 13 rebounds, and 7 assists in 30 minutes. Mitchell contributed 19 points and 5 assists in the victory.
The Cavs have a challenging four-game Western Conference road trip and face the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets twice in January. Those will be tough tests for this team in short succession that will inevitably result in a few losses. That makes banking wins in home games where they have the rest and injury advantage like they did the last two nights so important.
This was another strong showing in as many nights for the Cavs. They continue to show that they’re arguably the best team in the league.