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Wrap-Up -- After the month – and week --leading up to Friday night’s contest, the Cavaliers almost needed to throttle the injury-ravaged Sixers to right the ship.
They did.
Coming into the contest having dropped three straight and five of their previous seven, the Wine and Gold were all business in their well-earned homecoming – notching 30-plus points in each of the first three quarters and cruising to the 122-105 win on Friday night at The Q.
The Sixers – playing without Robert Covington, Jahlil Okafor and Sergio Rodriguez – suited up just nine guys on Friday night. And the Wine and Gold made short work of them – leading by as many as 32 points in the third quarter and getting the much-needed blowout win.
Cleveland’s All-Star starters set the tone early. Kyrie Irving finished with 11 points in the first quarter, LeBron James, 12 in the second as the Cavaliers scored 70 first-half points and took an 18-point lead into the locker room.
LeBron didn’t let up after intermission, netting 14 more in the third quarter and leaving nothing to chance against Brett Brown’s scrappy Sixers.
On the night, the four-time MVP led both squads with 34 points – going 14-for-22 from the floor, adding nine boards and six assists in the win.
Kyrie Irving bounced back from a rough shooting week to tally 24 points on 11-of-16 shooting, adding a game-high nine assists and a pair of steals.
The third member of Cleveland’s Big Three – Kevin Love – notched his third double-double since returning to the lineup two weeks ago, finishing with 18 points and 10 boards to go with three assists and a game-high three steals.
Tristan Thompson led both teams with 11 boards – grabbing seven of those off the offensive glass – to go with seven points.
Kevin Love doubles up on the Sixers as Kyrie and LBJ combine for 58 points.
J.R. Smith continued to find his rhythm with the postseason rapidly approaching – notching 14 points on 5-for-9 shooting, including 4-of-7 from long-range to go with four boards and a steal.
Channing Frye led Cleveland’s reserves with 12 points, going 5-of-8 from the floor, including 2-of-2 from long-range. Deron Williams chipped in with six assists and six points off the bench.
The Sixers got 19 points apiece from their starting backcourt of T.J. McConnell and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, with Shawn Long coming off the bench to score 11 of his 16 points in the third quarter.
On the night, the Wine and Gold shot 53 percent from the floor and canned 13 three-pointers – winning their ninth straight and 12th of their last 13 meetings against the Sixers.
Turning Point -- The last thing the Cavaliers needed on Friday night was a knock-down-drag-out against the lowly Sixers. So when they closed the first quarter up just three, 32-39, there was understandably some unease among the Quicken Loans Arena faithful.
But it didn’t take Cleveland long to get separation from Philly – opening the second quarter on a 13-3 run and extending their lead to 23 points on J.R. Smith’s triple with less than a minute to play before halftime.
By the Numbers – 20 … games this season that the Cavaliers have topped the 120-mark, including 11 of those at The Q. The win also improved the Cavaliers record against the Atlantic Division this season to 15-1.
Quotable – LeBron James, on getting through a difficult month of March …
”Our on-the-court chemistry took a hit. Our camaraderie didn’t. At the end of the day, we have to fix it and we’re here to fix it. This is what we have and we know that. As we continue to get our guys healthy and we continue to get back into the flow of things, we’ll figure it out.”
Up Next -- After wrapping up the month of March with Friday’s night win over Philly, the Cavaliers’ three-game homestand continues on Sunday evening – welcoming the Pacers to The Q for a 6 p.m. affair. After that, it’s a midweek back-to-back – taking on the Magic in Cleveland on Tuesday before a big showdown in Boston the following night. The Cavs have just four more games from there – road matchups in Atlanta and Miami and home meetings against the Hawks and Raptors – including Fan App Night on April 12.