The Cleveland Cavaliers were stuck in mud for much of Sunday's game against the Philadelphia 76ers, but they got their act together down the stretch and earned a 112-108 victory. The Cavs, who missed their first 14 shots of the game and didn't lead until the fourth quarter, were led by LeBron James' 26-point, 13-assist, 10-rebound triple double, and Kyrie Irving's season-high 39 points. Nineteen of Irving's points came in the final frame.
Cleveland was missing big man Channing Frye and guard Iman Shumpert. On the offensive end, it might as well have been without J.R. Smith, too -- the guard went scoreless, missing all 11 of his field-goal attempts, including six from behind the 3-point line. This meant the defending champs were reliant on their stars more than ever before -- with Kevin Love's 25 points, the Big 3 combined for 90 of the Cavaliers' 112 points.
This was a mostly ugly affair, but James did provide one memorable moment. Late in the first half, Cleveland big man Tristan Thompson missed a free throw and James glided in for the putback dunk:
That play is a tidy metaphor for the game. Philadelphia was in perfect position to get a big win, but James and the Cavs snatched it away and made it look easy.
