Darius Garland scored 25 points and Donovan Mitchell took over down the stretch as the Cleveland Cavaliers remained undefeated with a 114-106 road victory over the short-handed Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday.
Mitchell finished with 23 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists for Cleveland (13-0), which is off to the NBA’s best start since the Golden State Warriors’ record-setting 24-game winning streak to begin the 2015-16 season. The Cavaliers scuffled through much of the first half in this one before making a variety of big shots when it mattered most.
Philadelphia fought hard without Joel Embiid (knee), Paul George (knee) and Tyrese Maxey (hamstring) but still lost for the ninth time in 11 games this season. The 76ers were playing on back-to-back nights, having lost to the New York Knicks on Tuesday.
Rookie Jared McCain took advantage of the available playing time by scoring a career-high 34 points, while Kelly Oubre Jr. had 20 and Caleb Martin chipped in 18.
With Cleveland clinging to a 103-100 lead with under three minutes to play, Mitchell drained 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to put the Cavaliers ahead 109-102. He added a step-back 3-pointer with 1:18 remaining and then drove for a layup to make it 114-104 with about a minute left.
Both teams made five 3-pointers in the first quarter — the Cavs needed only eight attempts to do so — as Cleveland led 31-27 after one period.
The Sixers began the second quarter with a 12-1 run. Reggie Jackson scored eight of those points for the hosts, while Martin had the other four. Philadelphia led by as many as eight points in the second quarter and held a 54-48 lead going into the locker room.
Early in the third quarter, Cleveland scored 10 straight points, punctuated by Garland’s floater, to turn a seven-point deficit into a 62-59 lead. Garland scored 13 third-quarter points for the visitors, who led 82-78 after three periods.
Mitchell found Ty Jerome for a 3-pointer on the first possession of the fourth quarter and then drained a jumper on the next trip to grow Cleveland’s cushion to 87-78. Philadelphia chipped away, however, closing within 95-93 on Oubre’s layup with 6:47 to play.
