Sixers accomplish two goals in victory over Cleveland Cavaliers

CLEVELAND — Mission accomplished.

The 76ers were determined to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers for two reasons: They wanted to avenge this season’s previous two losses to the struggling Cavs. They also wanted a winning record on their six-game road trip.

They did both, defeating the Cavs, 114-94, Thursday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

The Sixers (33-15) snapped their two-game skid and went 4-2 on the road trip against the New York Knicks, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets, and Cavs. The win also marked the Sixers’ first win against the Cavs (17-31) in this season’s three meetings. It was their first time beating Cleveland in four tries dating back to last season.

“Terrific road trip for us,” Sixers coach Doc Rivers said. “It really was. Honest to God, I wanted them all. I’m not lying. I told our guys that. But going 4-2, obviously having Joel [Embiid] out, you know that’s a heck of a trip for us.”

The Sixers also remained a half-game behind the first-place Brooklyn Nets in the Eastern Conference standings. The Nets defeated the Charlotte Hornets, 111-89, Thursday night at the Barclays Center.

A victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday will elevate the Sixers into a first-place tie with the Nets, (34-15), who are off until Sunday.

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“For us, I know I said this before, it’s just as a group handling our business and the rest will take care of itself,” Tobias Harris said. “Obviously, we know how close things are. But you can’t rely too heavily on those types of things.

“It’s game after game, night after night, staying in the moment, handling our business day in and day out.”

For the Cavs, business has been down. This marked their fourth straight loss and 10th in their last 13 games. Cleveland unveiled its 23rd different starting lineup of the season. On this night, they were without center Jarrett Allen (concussion) and power forward Larry Nance Jr. (illness).

Sixth man Shake Milton led the Sixers with a game-high 27 points while making 5 of 7 three-pointers. Seth Curry added 19 points while making 5 of 10 threes. Dwight Howard added season-high tying 18 points and 15 rebounds off the bench.

Harris (12) and Danny Green (11) were the other double-digit scorers for the Sixers. Matisse Thybulle had five points, two steals and a game-high three blocks off the bench. Philly had a 65-26 advantage in bench points.

Harris only played 15 minutes, 5 seconds due to foul trouble and the Rivers resting his starters in the fourth quarter.

“Tobias, he got in foul trouble early and everybody stepped up after that and made some big plays, hit some big shots,” said Howard, who kept singing “Bend your knees” during the postgame presser. “Shake, he was unbelievable from the beginning of the game.

“Matisse: defense, breakaway dunks. Man, tonight was a good game for all of us.”

Collin Sexton paced the Cavs with 24 points and Kevin Love had 13.

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Ben Simmons had another subpar shooting performance.

The three-time All-Star missed a 5-foot hook shot on his first attempt. He followed by making a dunk, missing a layup and making a layup. Simmons, however, went on to miss his next seven shots. All of those misses were around the basket except for an 11-footer. Only one of his attempts came after intermission.

Simmons finished with five points on 2-for-11 shooting to go with 13 rebounds, five assists and two turnovers.

Luckily for the Sixers, his teammates took up the scoring slack.

With Embiid sidelined, the Sixers went back to starting 6-foot-7 power forward Mike Scott at center. The move made a lot of sense due the 6-8 Love starting at center for the Cavs after missing the last nine games with right calf soreness. Thursday marked just his fifth game this season.

Tony Bradley started at center in six games that Embiid missed. However, the Sixers shipped Bradley to Oklahoma City last Thursday in exchange for point guard George Hill. Scott started that night’s game and the next. Then Howard started Tuesday’s game against the Nuggets.

This marked the 10th game that Embiid missed with a bone bruise in his left knee. The league MVP candidate is expected to return Saturday against the Timberwolves at the Wells Fargo Center.

Rivers was asked whether some of the things the Sixers tripped on during Embiid’s absence that could help them moving forward.

“We really didn’t change much,” said Rivers, whose squad went 7-3 without Embiid. “I just think, I guess the stretch of playing without him, other guys have kind of found their niche a little bit.

“When he’s off the floor, I think we’ll have a better idea of what to run. Obviously, having him in makes our second unit deeper. So that will help as well.”

But on this night, the first quarter turned into a three-point contest between Love and Curry.

Love scored all 13 of his points in the first quarter on 4-for-8 shooting, including making 3 of 5 three-pointers. Curry had 11 points for the Sixers on 4-for-7 shooting, while making 3 of 5 threes.

Both players slowed down a little bit the second quarter. Love failed to score a point while missing his two shots. Curry scored five points on 2-for-6 shooting. But Milton (eight second-quarter points) and Howard (five points, four rebounds) took up the slack, enabling the Sixers to take a 58-56 halftime lead.

Love didn’t attempt a shot while playing just 4:57 in the second half due a minutes restriction.