Jan. 17, 2026, 5:31 a.m. ET
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers were unable to close out their contest with the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday as they held an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter before falling 117-115. While the defense on Cavs star Donovan Mitchell was stellar, it was second-year guard Jaylon Tyson who stepped up with 39 points for Cleveland and he had the game-winning assist to Evan Mobley.
Joel Embiid led the Sixers with 33 points and five rebounds. Tyrese Maxey added 22 points, five rebounds, and nine assists along with five steals, Paul George had 14 points and five assists, and VJ Edgecombe added 10 points. Quentin Grimes had 14 points, seven rebounds, and four assists off the bench and Kelly Oubre Jr. had 12 points.
Here are the three biggest takeaways for the Sixers following the loss:
Maxey’s overall struggles against the Cavaliers
Maxey is an incredible scorer as he’s averaging 30.3 points per game. However, he was held way below those averages in these two games against the Cavs. He had only 14 points on 5-for-16 shooting in the loss on Wednesday and then had 22 points on 9-for-23 shooting in the loss on Friday. He combined to shoot 4-for-16 from deep across the two games as well. It was an overall struggle for Maxey in the two games as the Cavaliers just used their length and defensive depth to slow down the All-Star guard.
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Coach Nick Nurse said of Maxey’s struggles:
“I think, obviously, they got some great size. They did pretty good job of putting two on him a lot. He didn’t get a whole lot, I thought, at the basket. He had a few chances, you know? And again, I think, maybe, like his last shot he made was a pretty nice floater before he gets to the secondary defender, which something more he’s got to use. I thought he did have some good looks at 3. Just didn’t make as many as probably normally would have liked for sure, but, they do do a pretty good job with their length and putting two on him and pulling over towards Joel and I thought we did a pretty good job for a lot stretches of the game plan, playing through some other guys and getting it to the weak side. Especially, that start stretch to start the fourth the offense was really good. We got the ball moving and got to the rim and got open, catch and shoots and stuff there for a stretch. Just not good enough down the stretch, though, I don’t think either with making a shot or getting a good enough one.”
Struggles at home continue
With this loss to the Cavs, the Sixers are now 10-11 at home on the season. That is abnormal for a team that relies so much on their home crowd giving them a boost and has so much success in this city, but they are a team that’s under .500 at home now and the Sixers will need to figure that out. They have let a number of games slip away down the stretch now and this loss to the Cavs is one they will be looking back on as one they shouldn’t have lost. Obviously, things happen in the NBA, but Philadelphia needs to start protecting home court.
Oubre said of the home struggles:
“We got to protect home court. It’s, obviously, easier said than done, but we have the team that’s capable enough to do it. We just have these lapses. I got to watch the film and keep breaking it down, but we seem to have these lapses where we’re up. The other team gets momentum, goes on runs, and we get a little bit frantic. So, I think if we clean those things up, man, we can allow our crowd to get involved. We can allow our offense and our defense to flow simultaneously, but we got to stop these runs that these teams are making. It’s been too many games where the other bench is super hyped when we’re not and that shouldn’t be like that, especially at home. So I’m thinking clean that up, and I think we’ll be in better shape.”
The Tyson problem
The Sixers did a great job of defending Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell after he scored 35 against them on Wednesday, but when they made the adjustment of shading toward Mitchell, it allowed Tyson to go off for Cleveland. He shot 13-for-17 from the floor overall and 7-for-9 from deep along with going a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line and grabbing five rebounds and dishing out four assists. He dished the game-winning assist to a cutting Mobley who threw one down with 4.8 seconds left to lift Cleveland to the win.
“Obviously, he got a little bit free because we were extra aggressive on Donovan tonight,” added Embiid. “Credit to him. He took advantage of it and he made big shots.”