Chapter 373: The Weight of Yesterday’s Glory.
Brett Brown tried every tactic in the book, but by the end of the game, none succeeded.
If it were just Han Sen or Nikola Jokić, he might've focused on forcing the ball out of one of their hands. But with both of them on the same team...
The Cavaliers kept creating mismatches. Whenever the 76ers focused on defending one, the other would take advantage with a mismatch of their own.
It was the classic case of two stars complementing each other perfectly, leaving the opponent helpless.
Brown even tried ignoring the Cavaliers' other three players to throw everything at Han and Jokić. However, both Kyle Korver and Robert Covington were on fire from beyond the arc, capitalizing on their open looks.
Clearly, the past two weeks of Coach Malone's focus in practice—putting role players in spots where they could thrive—paid off.
With no solution to stop Han and Jokić, Brown resorted to a shootout strategy, hoping to exploit weaknesses in the Cavaliers' lineup.
Unfortunately, this approach fell flat, as Ben Simmons became a liability. Han completely sagged off Simmons, turning the 76ers' offense into a de facto 4-on-5.
Though Jimmy Butler helped keep them competitive in the first half, with the 76ers only trailing 56-43, things unraveled quickly in the third quarter.
When Malone inserted Kyle Kuzma into the starting lineup, replacing Tristan Thompson, the Cavaliers' offensive spacing expanded dramatically. The 76ers' defense collapsed, unable to recover.
The end result: The Cavaliers obliterated the 76ers, 118-96, securing a key position in the Eastern Conference standings.