Cavs finally look the part, steamroll Sixers in Philly

Random dribbles following the Cavaliers’ 133-107 hammer job of a road win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday.

1. What a way to kick off the season’s second half. These are the Cavaliers everyone’s been waiting to see.

2. Ball movement? Check. Interior toughness and control of the paint? You got it. Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, and Evan Mobley all looking like All-Stars on the same night? Yep. For the Cavs, this one had it all — and all of it went the right way.

3. The Sixers are no slouches. Surprisingly, Joel Embiid was healthy and on the court. Same with Paul George. Same with Tyrese Maxey. And the Cavs treated the Sixers like a G League club from Delaware, anyway.

4. If you watched the game, you saw great effort. You saw energy. You saw belief and execution. You saw a group that resembled the 64-win team of a season ago. Finally.

5. Sadly, you also saw Garland and Sam Merrill exit with injuries. Garland left with a foot injury; Merrill’s was his hand. On the bright side, it’s not the same foot (right) on which Garland had offseason toe surgery (left). There was no immediate update on either player.

6. Now back to the positives. After struggling mightily for a few weeks and a couple of days of trade rumors, De’Andre Hunter came off the bench to score 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting, in just 22 minutes. Hunter said he loves it in Cleveland. This made it easy to believe.

7. Defensively, the Cavs set the tone right away. Philadelphia didn’t look ready for it. “We have that kind of energy from the jump, I think we’ll be tough to beat,” Hunter told FanDuel Sport Network’s Serena Winters.

8. For the record, this marked the Cavs’ largest margin of victory of the season.

9. Mobley and Jarrett Allen were a big reason for that, battling down low and relentlessly protecting the basket. “I feel like Jarrett was very inspired, just taking on Joel Embiid,” Mobley told FanDuel Sports Network. “We used our defense and turned it into offense.”

10. That’s a winning formula. That needs to be the Cavaliers Way. That is sustainable.

11. Mitchell finished with a game-high 35 points and helped break it open with four 3-pointers in the third quarter. Mobley was incredible with 17 points (7-of-10 shooting), 13 rebounds, six assists and four swats. Garland scored 20 with seven assists before exiting. Mitchell also had a game-high nine assists.

12. So if you think the Cavs (23-19) were mad after the loss to the lowly Jazz the other night … well, I think we have our answer.

13. Coach Kenny Atkinson told reporters he challenged the players before the game. “We needed to respond,” he said. “That was a tough loss to Utah. It shows our character. It wasn’t just that we won, but how we played the game. … That was Cavs basketball.”

14. Embiid led the Sixers (22-17) with 20 points, but was held to a measly four rebounds. The Cavs also did a nice job on Maxey (14 points, 5-of-16 shooting).

15. Now these two teams get to do it again on Friday, also in Philly. You know the Sixers will be seeking revenge. How the Cavs handle that should tell us something.