Cavs again show poise, get 39 from Jaylon Tyson in sliding past Sixers

This one had every reason to go sideways. Short-handed roster. Sloppy start. Late mistakes. And yet the Cavaliers walked out with it anyway.

They beat the Philadelphia 76ers 117-115 on the road, and they did it behind a performance that may end up meaning more than just one win.

Jaylon Tyson scored a career-high 39 points. But the play that decided the game was not a shot. It was a read.

With five seconds left and the game tied, Tyson attacked baseline, waited for the help to commit, and dropped the ball off to Evan Mobley for a clean dunk. Game over. Poise matters.

Cleveland did all of this without Darius Garland, Sam Merrill, Dean Wade, or Max Strus. It forced coach Kenny Atkinson into his 23rd different starting lineup of the season, this one featuring Craig Porter Jr. at point guard.

It showed early. The Cavs coughed it up 12 times in the first half, and Philadelphia turned those mistakes into 21 points.

That was the story at intermission, with the Sixers up seven and Cleveland searching for rhythm.

The third quarter did not provide much clarity. The fourth did, and not all of it was clean.

Philadelphia pushed the lead to 11 early in the fourth. Cleveland responded with a 10-0 run that finally woke the building up. Then came the familiar gut punch.

Three straight Cavs turnovers. Three straight Sixers scores. Tie game turned into a seven-point hole in about 30 seconds.

That is where this group showed growth.

The Cavs answered again, this time with a 10-2 burst to take a one-point lead inside the final two minutes. Buckets were traded. Possessions tightened. Tyrese Maxey floated one in to tie it at 115-all with eight seconds left.

Out of the timeout, the play was drawn for Donovan Mitchell. The inbound never got there. No panic. Tyson took over.

Maxey’s last-second heave from near half-court came up short.

Tyson finished 13-of-17 from the field and 7-of-9 from three. He added five rebounds and four assists.

It was the most complete game of his young career, and it came on a night Cleveland desperately needed someone to steady things.

Mitchell never found a groove. The Sixers trapped him aggressively, forced the ball out of his hands, and lived with the results. He finished with 13 points on 13 shots, 12 assists, and six turnovers. That assist number mattered.

De’Andre Hunter chipped in sixteen off the bench, seven of them during the fourth-quarter push. Mobley had 15, including three points in the final 30 seconds. Porter handed out 11 assists. Tyrese Proctor gave them 13 points in just eleven minutes.

Philadelphia leaned on Joel Embiid, who scored 33 with five rebounds, while Maxey added 22 on 9-of-23 shooting with nine assists.

It was not pretty. It was not smooth. But it was real.

The Cavs have now won three of their last four and seven of their last 10. More importantly, they are finding ways to survive nights when the roster is thin and the margin is thin with it.

They will get a quick test next. Cleveland hosts the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday afternoon, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, with a 2:30 p.m. tip.

If nothing else, this one showed they can take a punch, give one back, and trust the right guy to make the right play when it matters most.