Sixers vs. Cleveland Cavs takeaways: Joel Embiid, James Harden tandem, trouble, turnovers

The 76ers are scary good when Joel Embiid and James Harden are at their best.

The Sixers aren’t afraid of the work involved in a comeback.

And even still, they must do a better job of handling the ball.

These three things stood out in Wednesday night’s 118-109 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Embiid was his normal dominant self, finishing with game highs of 36 points, 18 rebounds and four blocks. Meanwhile, Harden added 28 points, 12 assists and three steals. After the game, Harden was asked what it creates when he and Embiid are at their best.

» READ MORE: Joel Embiid and James Harden propel Sixers to tiebreaker over Cleveland Cavaliers with 118-109 win

“Trouble for the other team,” he said, “because we’re scoring the ball, getting other guys involved, just dominating the game.

“And if we can do that as many times each quarter and the game, then it’s going to be tough for teams to beat us.”

On Wednesday, Embiid did most of this damage early. He scored 15 points in the first quarter. By intermission, the MVP candidate had 24 points on 7-for-10 shooting along with nine rebounds.

Meanwhile, Harden had his imprints all over the fourth quarter. That’s when he had 13 points and five assists.

The Sixers (46-22) trailed the Cavs (44-27) by a score of 70-57 with 9 minutes, 44 seconds left in the third quarter. After coach Doc Rivers called a timeout, the Sixers responded with a 14-0 run to take the lead.

The lead seesawed before the Sixers took the lead for good with 7:21 remaining. This night marked their 12th victory in a game where they trailed by at least 13 points. That’s the most victories produced in that scenario in the NBA.

“Staying together,” Embiid said of attributes to the Sixers’ ability to come back quickly. “We know it’s a game of runs. They made their run to end the first half, and then to start that third quarter.

“It’s a game of runs, so staying together to know that at some point we are going to get our chance to respond. And we responded right away, and that’s good to see.”

Cleveland is a dominant defensive team, a team that forces opponents to turn the ball over.

However, the Sixers must do a better job of handling the ball if they expect to go far in the postseason.

They committed 20 turnovers Wednesday with seven coming in the first quarter. Embiid finished the game with six turnovers. Harden has four, and Tryese Maxey had three. Tobias Harris (two), P.J. Tucker (two) and Paul Reed (one) had the others.

» READ MORE: P.J. Tucker cares more about the Sixers’ level of focus than their playoff seeding

“We just got careless with the basketball,” Harden said. “It was us. I mean they weren’t really pressuring us to where we had tough decisions. We were just kicking the ball off our foot and doing things uncharacteristic.

“So if we control those things, especially earlier in that game, it’s a much different ballgame earlier. But all in all, we win, we move on.”

True.

But the Sixers can’t allow that to happen in the postseason.

» READ MORE: Where do the Sixers stand in the East? Taking stock of their playoff race with 15 games to go.

Best performance: I guess Embiid keeps his award. That’s because the Sixers center keeps on winning it. He gets it, once again, for his two-way dominance.

Worst performance: I’m giving this to Darius Garland. The Cavs point guard finished with 15 points, but made just 6 of 17 — including going 1-for-7 on three-pointers. He had five assists and four turnovers.

Best defensive performance: Embiid gets this. He had four blocks for the second consecutive time this season.

Worst statistic: This goes to Cleveland’s foul shooting. They shot 68.2% from the foul line.

Best statistic: This goes to the Sixers second-half shooting. They shot 57.9% after intermission.

Best of the Best: The Sixers are improved to 34-10 since starting the season at 12-12. It is the best record in the NBA during the last 44 games.