Tyrese Maxey scored 32 points and the Philadelphia 76ers rallied from a 29-point deficit to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 114-106 on Thursday night at Xfinity Arena. The Sixers cut the gap to 10 in the third quarter, when Maxey caught a pass from LeBron James in transition and, without taking a dribble, launched a 3-pointer that forced a Cavs timeout.
Maxey walked toward the fans behind the scorers’ table and screamed as Jaylen Brown flanked him in celebration, while Joel Embiid celebrated at the other end of the court. The crowd followed Maxey’s lead all night as the Sixers roared back.
The 29-point comeback was the largest blown lead in Cavaliers history and the largest comeback by the Sixers in the play-by-play era. It was also the largest comeback of James’ 24-year career.
A Sluggish Start
Two nights after their season-opening win over the reigning champion New York Knicks, the Sixers were outclassed in nearly every way. They turned the ball over, could not get stops and missed layups. Brown scored just four points in his lowest-scoring first half at home since March 2025, and the Sixers committed 15 first-half turnovers, their most in a half since January 2024.
The Cavaliers took a 69-45 halftime lead, which tied their largest lead in a season-opening half in franchise history and matched their largest halftime lead over the 76ers in franchise history. As the first half ended, the crowd, most of them wearing white opening-night shirts printed with the Sixers roster and coach Nick Nurse, loudly booed.
The Halftime Message
Maxey said he challenged his teammates during the intermission. “I said, ‘Well, it’s time to see what we made of. Are we going to be some front-runners and only be happy when stuff is good? Or when stuff is bad, are we going to fight and be resilient?’ And we did that,” Maxey said.
The Sixers answered with a third quarter that Brown said “shifted the game.” They came out of the break on an 8-0 run and outscored Cleveland 37-21 in the period. Even so, they entered the fourth quarter trailing by eight. They did not take the lead until the 6:54 mark, when Embiid hit a 16-foot jump shot over center Jarrett Allen that gave Philadelphia a lead it would not give up.
Adjustments Made the Difference
Nurse said the Sixers struggled to defend the Cavaliers’ mid-pick-and-roll plays in the first half. According to GeniusIQ, Cleveland ran 27 direct picks in the first half and averaged 1.08 points on them. In the second half, the Cavaliers ran 20 direct picks and averaged just 0.56 points. Nurse shifted the team’s defensive assignments, and the change worked.
The Cavaliers scored only 37 points after halftime. Donovan Mitchell, who had 30 points through three quarters, managed just two points in the fourth, and those came after the game was out of reach. The Sixers turned the ball over only twice in the second half, compared with 15 times for Cleveland.
“They were just way, way, way tougher than us in the first half,” Maxey said. “They were just punking us honestly, and we did a good job of playing back second.”
Reactions
Embiid said the team’s resilience was different from past Sixers teams he has been part of during his 11-year career in Philadelphia. “No shade to anybody that’s been here, but in the past, a lot of people would’ve just laid down and tried to move on to the next one,” he said. He added, “Yeah, it was different. I said last game, after the game, it just feels different.”
James cautioned that the Sixers cannot count on comebacks like this one. “You don’t want to rely on that,” James said, laughing. “I think it’s great to know deep down we’re not going to have that quit mentality … but you don’t want to put yourself in too many of those situations.”
As the Sixers rallied, the crowd’s boos turned into raucous cheers. Embiid called it a “top-three” night of his career, and guard VJ Edgecombe said it was the best atmosphere he has played in as a professional. James called Philadelphia “one of the best sports cities.”
“I’ve been here for a long time. … I have no words,” Embiid said. “That was amazing.”