Sixers deliver a battle but fall short on the road against Cleveland Cavaliers

CLEVELAND — For the 76ers, Saturday’s matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers was the first of three consecutive barometer games.

Give the Sixers credit. They played hard and attacked the game from the start. They just couldn’t sustain their high level of play. As a result, Cleveland rolled to a 126-99 victory at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

“They hit a bunch of bombs on us,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said. “They got a ton of momentum. Some of them were deep. But then again, I think the rest of it turned into the pace of the game got too much for us. We gave up too many transition points.”

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The Sixers’ next test comes Monday night against the San Antonio Spurs at the Wells Fargo Center. Joel Embiid, who sat out Saturday’s game to rest, is expected to return against the Spurs. Then the Sixers (9-17) will face the Boston Celtics at the TD Garden on Christmas Day.

Darius Garland led the Cavs with 26 points while making 6 of 7 three-pointers to go with five rebounds and four assists. Evan Mobley added 22 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists, while Donovan Mitchell had 19 points and five assists.

Tyrese Maxey paced the Sixers with 27 points while making 5 of 10 three-pointers. He scored the Sixers’ first eight points of the game. Maxey also scored 13 of their 21 third-quarter points.

Paul George added 11 points and five rebounds while playing the second night of a back-to-back for the first time this season. The nine-time All-Star, however, made just 4 of 12 shots after shooting 2-for-12 Friday night against the Charlotte Hornets.

Heading into Saturday’s game, the Sixers were playing their best basketball of the season. They had won two straight games and six of their last eight.

Early on, it appeared the Sixers would have a chance to continue their winning ways. They jumped out to an 11-point lead midway through the first quarter. However, as the NBA’s best team, the Cavs (25-4) were expected to go on a run. And they did just that, knotting the score at 30 at the end of the first quarter.

“I think it’s probably a little bit disappointing,” Nurse said. “Like you get in segments in games sometimes where you play really, really well and you look up and say we shouldn’t be tied. … We should have had probably had a six- or  eight-point lead at the end of the first or if not even more the way things were going.

“But we’re not going to hold them down. They’re going to make runs.”

Cleveland then outscored the Sixers, 36-25, in the second quarter to take a 66-55 halftime lead.

The Cavs then opened the third quarter with a 9-0 run to build a 20-point advantage just three minutes into the half.

However, the Sixers refused to quit and pulled within eight points to cut the Cavs’ lead to 81-73 after Maxey’s three-pointer with 5 minutes, 24 seconds left in the quarter. However, Cleveland would respond with a 14-2 run to go up, 95-75.

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As a team, the Sixers made just 39.5% of their shots. They also struggled mightily with perimeter defense. The Cavs made a season-high 22 three-pointers off 43 attempts.