Sixers with complete team effort, stun Cavs in Cleveland

By Josh Liddick, Sports Talk Philly editor 

Well that was fun, wasn't it Sixers fans? The Sixers (33-27) led the whole game, never trailed, and completely outplayed LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers (36-25), beating the Cavs at the Q for the first time since March 29, 2013.

The Sixers started out fast by shooting threes, and continued to pad their lead as the game progressed. As a team, the Sixers shot the ball very well, shooting 44.4 percent from the field. All five of the Sixers' starters finished with double-digits in scoring.

.@sixers lead @cavs 32-29 after 1Q. It's the most points Phila has scored in a 1st quarter AT Cleveland since posting 37 on Feb. 21, 2003.

76ers have posted 30+ points in 27 of 60 1st quarters this seaosn and rank third in @NBA in 1Q points per game.

h/t @bball_ref & @nbastats

— Sixers Stats (@SixersStats) March 2, 2018

JJ Redick had a team-high 22 points, Ben Simmons (18), Joel Embiid (17), Dario Saric (16), and Robert Covington (10) followed suit.

Marco Belinelli led the Sixers bench with 11 points, while Amir Johnson added six points, five rebounds, and two blocks.

Ersan Ilyasova ended up playing 18 minutes in his Sixers return. Finished with six points, two rebounds, and two assists.

To go along with his 17 points, Embiid had 14 rebounds and six assists. Simmons had nine rebounds, eight assists, and two steals to add to his 18 points, narrowly missing out on his seventh triple double of the season.

The Sixers outrebounded the Cavs 54-45.

Despite not getting to a triple double, LeBron James starred for the Cavs, scoring 30 points, grabbing nine rebounds, eight assists, and a steal in 39 minutes.

Larry Nance Jr. had 13 points, seven rebounds, three blocks, and a steal off the bench to lead the second team.

The teams got chippy at the end of the game with Jordan Clarkson getting at it, but the Cavs lost the game fair and square with the Sixers obviously deserving of the win, possibly the best win for the team of the season.

If the Pacers win and the Sixers win at home against the Hornets tomorrow, the Sixers will move into fifth place in the Eastern Conference. The victory over the Cavs puts them a game up and only 2.5 games behind Cleveland for the third seed in the conference.