Sixers deliver down stretch to defeat Cleveland Cavaliers and end seven-game losing streak

Pregame, Cleveland Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson was asked about his team’s penchant to go on 10-0 runs.

“It demoralizes teams when you go on a run like that,” Atkinson said. “You can feel them deflating.”

On Friday, the Sixers were finally the team to deliver a deflating run of their own — ripping off a 13-0 run in the fourth quarter to bury the NBA’s best team and snap a seven-game losing streak with a 132-129 win.

“We just had that pop today,” Kelly Oubre Jr. said. “Each and every guy was on a string. The ball moved really well. We didn’t get too high, we didn’t get too low. We stayed even-keeled throughout the whole game, even when they went on their runs.”

Guerschon Yabusele started the Sixers off with a three to open the game, and from there, the shots just kept falling. Given how the season has started, the Sixers were due for some luck — and they got it from three-point range on Friday.

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In the first half, the Sixers shot 12-for-20 (60%) from deep — and that included a desperation heave from Tyrese Maxey at the buzzer. Maxey went 4-for-6 from three-point range in the first half, posting 19 points to lead all scorers at the half.

Pessimistic fans went into the second half expecting the Sixers’ three-point shooting to regress, and early on, it looked like that was coming, with Maxey missing his first two attempts from beyond the arc and Oubre missing his first. But as the Cavs punched, separating themselves by as many as eight points early in the quarter, coach Nick Nurse called a timeout to regroup, and the Sixers punched back.

The first half wasn’t Paul George’s best. He turned the ball over four times and started 1-for-6 from the field. But in the third quarter, George elevated his game and went 3-for-4 from beyond the arc and 4-for-5 from the field for 14 points. He kept the Sixers in it, alongside Oubre, who ended the quarter with eight points, two assists, and four rebounds. He even received a few scattered “M-V-P” chants from the crowd near the end of the fourth quarter. What helped George make that adjustment? “Just kept shooting,” he said postgame.

“At first [George] was hesitant, thinking, ‘Should I take it? Should I drive it?’” Nurse said. “He just started playing in the second half. He just started vaulting up on a lot of them and going, and I thought he made a couple good drives as well, some good pass-outs … Whatever it was, it just took him a minute to get into the rhythm of the game. You could see a big difference in his assertiveness.”

The Sixers kept punching back — and you could feel the Wells Fargo Center crowd start to believe in this Sixers team again.

The Sixers put together one of their most impressive offensive showings in a while, but the Cavs, at 36-8, are tied with the Oklahoma City Thunder for the best record in basketball for a reason. Recently named All-Star starter Donovan Mitchell scored 37 points, but Ty Jerome was a spark plug off the bench with a career-high 33 points, going 8-for-8 from three and 11-for-14 from the field.

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Jerome’s final bucket was his biggest as he hit a corner three to bring the Cavs within one with 11.5 seconds to play. But Maxey sunk two critical free throws — and Jerome threw the ball straight into the stands on the ensuing inbounds possession. Maxey gathered two more free throws before Mitchell hit another three to bring the Cavs within two with 1.3 seconds left.

With an injury list that grows by the day, the Sixers received production from everywhere in their lineup and had multiple players deliver down the stretch.

Rookie Justin Edwards stepped in for critical defensive minutes down the stretch after Oubre fouled out with just over two minutes left to play after scoring 22 points in 39 minutes. And he showed, once again, that he belongs.

Pregame, Nurse praised Edwards’ feel for the game, and his ability to put himself in the right positions to be successful. On Friday, he showed off his shooting talent with a 15-point, six-rebound performance. Edwards also made a critical free throw late in the fourth quarter to secure the win.

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“He’s done a good job staying really level headed,” Maxey said of Edwards. “We ask him to guard sometimes the best guard on the floor, that’s really difficult and tough, he does a good job at that. He shoots the ball really well.

“The thing that I’ve been pretty surprised about is his playmaking, the way he plays off the catch. He gets downhill and draws defenders and makes some pretty good passes. I always mess with him like, ‘You were the number one player in the country in high school for a reason, show them what your game is,’ and he does a good job with that.”