1 week Ago By By KEVIN COONEY - Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Donovan Mitchell scored 11 of his 23 points in the final three minutes of the game and the Cleveland Cavaliers became the sixth team in NBA history to start a season 13-0 with a 114-106 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night. Mitchell also grabbed 13 rebounds and added nine assists as Cleveland became the first team since the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors to win 13 straight to begin a season. That Warriors team holds the record for most wins to begin a campaign at 24 straight.
Darius Garland scored 25 points while Evan Mobley had 14 points with seven rebounds. Jared McCain had a career-high 34 for the 76ers, who played without Paul George and Joel Embiid on the second night of a back-to-back as part of left knee injury maintenance. Kelly Oubre Jr.
had 20 points while Caleb Martin added 18 for the Sixers. Cavaliers: On a night when Cleveland didn’t come with its best game, the team had enough firepower to hold off a gritty bunch of young Sixers who played perhaps their best all-around game of the season. 76ers: The best news of the day for the Sixers came pre-game when both George and Embiid were cleared to play on Friday night in Orlando.
Head coach Nick Nurse said George’s minutes restriction would be lifted. Mitchell hit three 3-pointers with less than three minutes to play to extend Cleveland's lead to seven, seemingly taking the starch out of the Sixers final push. The Cavaliers have won 13 in a row for the fourth time in franchise history.
The other three times — in 2009, 2010 and 2017 — were when they had LeBron James on the roster. Cavaliers: Play hosts to Chicago on Friday night. 76ers: Play at Orlando on Friday night.
___ AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba.
