Doc Rivers Believe Cavs Had Revenge on Their Minds Wednesday

Last season, the Cleveland Cavaliers established themselves as a team that’s ready to begin battling for a spot in the playoffs. As they remained in the postseason picture for a good portion of the year, the Cavs nearly earned themselves a spot in the 2022 NBA Playoffs via the Play-In.

While Cleveland might’ve found a lot of success against specific teams last year, the Philadelphia 76ers were not one of them. In four matchups, the Sixers collected a victory every time.

By early April, the 76ers had defeated the Cavaliers 112-108, which became the fifth-straight win over Cleveland, marking over a year since the Cavs defeated the 76ers.

Going into Wednesday night’s matchup, it was the first meeting between the Sixers and the Cavs during the 2022-2023 NBA season. Knowing the lack of success the Cavs have had against the Sixers in recent times, Philly’s head coach Doc Rivers figured Cleveland would be out for revenge on Wednesday.

“We’ve beaten them four times in a row,” Rivers told reporters after the game. "We swept them last year. They have pride. You could feel them coming into the game. I told our guys before the game it’s going to be a hard game. They’re fresh, they’re going to attack you, and they do not want to lose to you again. If you don’t have a great mental mindset tonight, it’s going to be a tough game.”

A tough game it was for the 76ers. While the Sixers put up a good fight in the first quarter, having a seven-point lead at a point and keeping it within four points after falling behind in the first, the Cavaliers put on the most dominant showing the Sixers witnessed in the second quarter.

Cleveland hit on 94 percent of their shots from the field and knocked down 100 percent of their threes in the second quarter. They outscored the Sixers 44-27 before halftime.

“You could see it early; we were dead, and we were flat,” Rivers explained. “Sometimes, you get into the game, and you get into it — there were no signs of that tonight. You can just see it offensively and defensively. I mean, they were shooting 73 percent in the first half. You’re never going to win that game.”

And the Sixers didn’t win it.

After another tough showing in the second half, the Sixers fell flat to Cleveland and took on their worst loss of the year by coming up short 113-85. With that loss, the Sixers drop to 12-10 on the year as the Cavs snap the five-game losing streak to Philadelphia.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.