Sixers get rocked and rolled in lopsided loss to Cleveland, 113-85

CLEVELAND – Things have rarely been easy for the 76ers this season.

They’ve had one of the league’s toughest early-season schedules. They’ve had only six games with their starting lineup intact and are still without their starting backcourt of James Harden (right foot tendon strain) and Tyrese Maxey (left foot fracture).

Yet the squad appeared to overcome recent adversity with a string of impressive performances. Then came Wednesday’s 113-85 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. They resembled a team that had very little fight, much like the team that started the season.

» READ MORE: Sixers star James Harden targeting Monday’s game against Houston Rockets as return date

It was their largest margin of defeat this season. Cleveland shot 60.8% from the field, including making 15 of 29 three-pointers. The Cavs (14-8) held a 21-point halftime cushion after outscoring the Sixers, 44-27, in the second quarter. Cleveland shot 94.1% in the second quarter, missing just one of its 17 shots, and built a commanding 32-point cushion midway through the third quarter.

Caris Levert finished with a game-high 21 points. All-Star point guard Darius Garland finished with 21 points and a game-high nine assists. Meanwhile, second-year player Evan Mobley, who started at center in place of injured All-Star Jarrett Allen, had 16 points on 8-for-10 shooting to go with a game-high eight rebounds.

Asked where was the biggest defensive breakdown, coach Doc Rivers responded, “Everywhere.”

“We just didn’t have anything,” he said. “It was, you know, it was a schedule loss. That’s how I felt. You could see guys had no energy, no legs. So not much tonight.”

The Sixers completed a three-game road trip on Sunday night and flew back to Philadelphia to face the Atlanta Hawks on Monday at the Wells Fargo Center. Then they flew here on Tuesday to face the Cavs in the first game of another three-game road trip.

The blowout loss came after the undermanned Sixers (12-10) were impressive while winning three straight and seven of nine games.

But they looked nothing like the resilient group that pulled off a couple of those improbable victories.

Joel Embiid finished with 19 points on 6-for-16 shooting to go with six rebounds and three steals. He was their best player.

Tobias Harris, who was a major reason for the Sixers’ recent success, struggled mightily against the Cavs.

A lot of his struggles could have been a result of becoming ill with flu-like symptoms Tuesday night. Harris tried to battle through the sickness, but tied a season low with just three points. He missed all seven of his shots in three quarters of action. Harris didn’t return in the fourth.

“I tried to go with it,” Harris said. “But the third quarter I was like, ‘It’s hard for me to breathe out here.’ "

So he shut things down.

This came after Harris recorded three straight 20-point outings and did so four times in his previous five games. Over that span, Harris averaged 23.0 points and 7.2 rebounds to make him one of four players to average at least 23 points and five rebounds in a minimum of four games.

Harris was noticeably sick following the game, moving around in slow motion and barely uttering a word.

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Harden’s target date to return is Monday night against the Houston Rockets. Meanwhile, Maxey is expected to return later this month.

But Milton and Melton are getting valuable minutes in their absence.

Milton had 14 points on 6-for-12 shooting to go with three assists, while Melton had nine points and three steals.

» READ MORE: The Sixers — and NBA at large — are fighting the injury bug to start 2022-23: ‘We squeezed three seasons into one calendar year’

The Sixers believe their bench players’ current stint in the starting lineup will be huge for the team later on.

“It will give us opportunities to put second groups out on the floor without any of the key guys on the floor,” Rivers said. “That’s something we were not doing early in the year. So that’s why there’s always something that happens when injuries like that happens and that may be one of them.”

P.J. Tucker received a lot of criticism for not scoring a point in seven of the Sixers’ last eight games. However, the forward scored the Sixers’ second basket — a 26-foot three-pointer — to put them up, 5-2, 1 minute, 58 seconds into the game.

Tucker made two of his four shots — all three-pointers — en route to scoring six points.

It’s not uncommon for Embiid to hit the deck several times in a game.

This game was no exception.

Embiid fell to the court four times in the first half. He even picked up a technical foul for yelling something at referee Ashley Moyer-Gleich after landing on the floor the fourth time. Embiid appeared to be knocked to the ground, but no foul was called.

After receiving the technical, Embiid continued to walk down the court next to Moyer-Gleich, who gave him the tech, for several steps. He then sought out other referees to extend the discussion.

The Sixers traveled to Memphis following the game for Friday night’s matchup against the Grizzlies at FedExForum.