2 Things We Learned About 76ers in Their 2nd Game of Season

Two games, two wins for the new-look Philadelphia 76ers to start the 2026-27 NBA season.

The Sixers followed their season-opening win over the defending-champion New York Knicks with a 114-106 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in their home opener. It wasn't easy. In fact, it required a franchise-record 29-point comeback, but the Sixers persevered and they now sit perfect after two tough tests to kick off the campaign.

Here's a look at two things that we learned about Sixers in the second game of the season.

The 76ers are resilient

The first half of the game against the Cavaliers went about as poorly as possible for the Sixers. The Xfinity Mobile Arena in South Philadelphia was packed with fans exploding with excitement for the first home game of the season, and by the second quarter they were booing their own team. Not to say that it wasn't deserved.

The 76ers came out of the gate incredibly flat and they were completely outworked and outplayed by the Cavaliers over the first 24 minutes of the contest. Cleveland outscored Philadelphia 35-18 in the first quarter and they were up by as many as 29 in the second quarter. The Sixers looked dead in the water prior to halftime. At that point, they had a decision to make. They could either lay down and die, metaphorically, or they could get up off the mat and fight. They chose the latter option.

The Sixers stormed out of the gate in the second half, displaying an effort and intensity that simply wasn't there in the first half, especially on the defensive side of the floor. They quickly trimmed the lead to a manageable deficit and then continued to chip away at it. They outscored Cleveland 37-21 in the third quarter and then 32-16 in the final quarter to close out the most memorable comeback of the young NBA season.

All of the key cogs for Philly contributed to the comeback effort. Tyrese Maxey hit several clutch shots, as did Jaylen Brown and Joel Embiid. LeBron James got after it defensively, grabbed some timely rebounds and dropped some dimes, as did VJ Edgecombe. It was a balanced performance from Philadelphia's starters as all five guys scored in double figures and grabbed at least three rebounds.

You can learn a lot about a team from how they respond to adversity, and the Sixers passed their first major test in that regard with flying colors.

76ers can overcome poor 3-point shooting

For the second straight game, the 76ers shot very poorly from beyond the arc as a team, and for a second straight game they were able to overcome that to pull out a victory. The Sixers converted just 11 of their 40 attempts from beyond the arc in the first game of the season against New York, which translates to 28 percent.

If you assumed that they'd improve upon that number in the second game, you'd have been wrong, as they actually went in the opposite direction. The Sixers converted just seven of their 28 long-range attempts against Cleveland, which is an anemic 25 percent.

For some teams, such poor shooting from 3-point range would be crippling. The Sixers, however, have been able to overcome it in two consecutive games, largely by converting higher-percentage shots inside the arc.

But, while they've been able to overcome it so far, consistently struggling to convert from long range isn't a recipe for success in today's NBA. So, the Sixers will have to hope that the shots start falling soon.

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