76ers at Cavaliers
The Philadelphia 76ers will go as far as All-Star center Joel Embiid can take them, and he showed off his capabilities at home on Monday. The 76ers will try to coax a similar performance out of Embiid and the rest of the squad when they go for a rare road win while visiting the Eastern Conference-worst Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday.
Embiid scored 22 of his 49 points in the fourth quarter and added 14 rebounds in Monday's win over the Atlanta Hawks, helping turn a one-point deficit entering the fourth into a 129-112 triumph. "We're all going to point to the numbers, and this and that, but the bottom line is this: When he comes out with that activity, that energy, that mentality, he makes a statistician work," Philadelphia coach Brett Brown told reporters of Embiid. "And we will win a lot of games." The Cavaliers are one of the few teams with the size to compete with Embiid with Andre Drummond and Tristan Thompson at center, and they just finished surprising an East playoff hopeful in a 125-119 overtime victory over Miami on Monday. Cleveland is 2-1 in three games since J.B. Bickerstaff took over from John Beilein as head coach during the All-Star break.
TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: NBCS Philadelphia, FS Ohio
ABOUT THE 76ERS (36-22): Philadelphia improved its NBA-best home record to 27-2 with Monday's win, and Embiid is averaging 44 points in two home games since the All-Star break. "I said I was going to get back to having fun," Embiid said. "Having fun comes in different forms. I don't always have to be smiling or laughing all the time; I can have fun just dominating the game.” Embiid managed just 17 points on 5-of-17 shooting in the team's lone road game since the break - a 119-98 setback at Milwaukee on Saturday - and the 76ers, who with play five of the next six games away from home, own a 9-20 mark on the road.
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (16-41): Cleveland is trying to build for the future and rookie Kevin Porter Jr. provided a glimpse of what that might look like with a season-high 30 points and eight rebounds in 41 minutes off the bench on Monday. "You can play a perfect game, but if you don't close it at the end it don't matter," Porter told reporters of the overtime triumph. "We were extremely happy that we were able to close this comeback because we came back a lot of times this season and we weren't able to close a majority of them. This one was definitely meaningful for growth in our future." Fellow rookie Darius Garland logged 40 minutes in the win and finished with 12 points and seven assists.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Cavaliers PG Dante Exum (ankle) left Monday's game and is day-to-day.
2. 76ers PG Ben Simmons (back) sat out Monday and is not expected to play Wednesday.
3. Philadelphia took the first three meetings, including a 114-95 win at Cleveland on Nov. 7 and a 141-94 home drubbing on Dec. 7.