PHILADELPHIA — Tyrese Maxey scored 32 points as the Philadelphia 76ers erased a 29-point deficit in a wild 114-106 victory over the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday.
Joel Embiid added 24 points for Philadelphia, which dominated the second half for the second straight game after opening the season Tuesday with a road victory over the New York Knicks. This rally was even more emphatic, as the Sixers outscored the Cavaliers 69-37 after halftime.
Playing in front of the home crowd for the first time as 76ers, LeBron James scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while Jaylen Brown scored 10 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter.
Cleveland fell short in its season opener despite Donovan Mitchell’s 32 points and 10 rebounds. Evan Mobley added 18 points for the Cavaliers, while James Harden had 16 and Jarrett Allen notched 14.
After trailing by 24 at halftime, Philadelphia needed only 78 seconds to cut the deficit to 13, as James found Embiid for a layup to make it 69-56.
Maxey’s layup with 5:42 left in the third quarter brought the Sixers back within 10. Philadelphia got as close as 84-82 before Mario Hezonja made two late bank shots, helping the Cavaliers carry a 90-82 lead into the fourth.
Embiid’s running floater with 7:20 left drew the Sixers within 95-94. He knocked down a 15-footer on the next trip to give the team its first lead of the night.
Brown scored the next six points and Maxey added a bucket to cap a 15-0 push, giving the Sixers a 104-95 lead.
Cleveland got within 106-102 down the stretch, but Mitchell missed two free throws, and the momentum was squashed. Maxey and Brown scored on the next two trips to push the lead back to eight.
The Cavaliers stormed out of the gates, taking a 35-18 lead after 12 lopsided minutes. The Sixers shot 38.1% in the first quarter and committed eight turnovers.
They committed six more turnovers in the second quarter en route to a 69-45 deficit at intermission.
Mobley scored 11 second-quarter points and Mitchell had 10 for Cleveland, which led by as many as 29 points in the period. Mitchell paced all scorers with 22 points at the break.
