Cleveland Cruises Past Philadelphia 119-95 as LeBron James Struggles

Cleveland Cavaliers cruised to a dominant 119-95 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA Cup group stage, in a game heavily marked by LeBron James's return to Ohio as an opponent. James, who opted to join Philadelphia in the summer rather than return to Cleveland for a third stint, was greeted with jeers and endured a miserable evening with just 8 points on 3-of-12 shooting in 31 minutes. It was only the 10th time in his illustrious regular-season career that he scored in single digits.

Donovan Mitchell led the hosts with 23 points, 7 rebounds, and 8 assists, while Evan Mobley added 22 and James Harden chipped in 17. The Cavs, recovering from consecutive losses to Oklahoma City, controlled the tempo and led by as many as 25 points. For Philadelphia, Jaylen Brown scored 20 points, V.J. Edgecombe added 19, and Tyrese Maxey contributed 17, while Joel Embiid missed all 9 of his field-goal attempts to finish with 6 points solely from the free-throw line as the 76ers suffered only their second loss in ten games.