Sixers-Cavs: Consider the date double-circled

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Good morning, gang!

You thought there was some element of revenge in the Sixers taking down the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night? Well, they’re going to get a team feeling a type of way on Friday.

You got families, you got jobs, you got bills, you got a really bad football team that is only making your depression worse. It’s understandable if all those things — or, life, you might call it — kicked the memory of the first rendezvous between Cleveland and Philadelphia to the back of your mind.

Let me refresh it for you.

The Cavaliers had the Sixers down 29 points in the first half. The Cavaliers lost the game by eight points.

That was their season opener. They were fully pouring on the home debuts of Jaylen Brown and LeBron James. And, boom, the Sixers embarrassed them.

Yeah, this is an NBA Cup game. The Cavaliers are thinking about their revenge. And if they’re not, they’re probably not a serious basketball team anyway because any competitive soul would want to strike back after that disaster in their first game.

So just like the Sixers wanted blood on Wednesday, the Cavaliers should want blood on Friday.

My two cents?

Put Tyrese Maxey on James Harden from the jump. Put the 26-year-old in the 37-year-old’s jersey. Just like the Sixers did in the second half of the first matchup.

“Totally changed the game, right? He totally changed the game,” Nick Nurse told reporters after that wild comeback.

“I think he came out and he's out there doing that and the rest of the guys are in the back watching and all of a sudden they start saying, ‘I'll be in on that, too,’” he continued. “And then all of a sudden you’ve got everybody. He provides not only the physical effort to start it, but it’s just kind of a spark that got everybody kind of emotional.”

If Maxey can keep Harden backed up enough to where they’re not getting into their sets until there’s 14 left on the clock, that’ll help.

On the topic of defense, we’ve now seen Jaylen Brown completely stonewall a number of high-level offensive players in one-on-one matchups through these first nine games.

Donovan Mitchell is the herky-jerky one. Jalen Brunson is the bulky one. Cade Cunningham is the big, smooth one. Mitchell has that quick high gather that seems impossible to defend as he attacks the paint. But I’d see if you can slow him down by putting Mr. Brown on him.

In summary, if the Sixers can turn Cleveland’s halfcourt offense into Evan Mobley and Peyton Watson trying to make things happen as often as possible, they will have succeeded.

The task will be a little different this time around. The Sixers will have Dean Wade, who was unavailable the first time these teams matched up. But they’ll also ostensibly be down both of their normal backup centers (Ariel Hukporti is out for the season, obviously).

If Bona indeed cannot play, get ready for Nurse to toggle through lineups with Wade, Jabari Walker, and LeBron James acting as the center when Joel Embiid isn’t on the court.

Although, perhaps Cleveland will have some rotation woes of its own.

As you argue with yourselves and others over how real the Sixers are, a win would improve them to 9-1. A 5-0 start on the road would be their best since 2000-01, when the Allen Iverson-led Sixers went to the Finals.

It does us little service to compare how this team has started to how the Sixers started the last time they went to the Finals, 26 years ago. But you look down the schedule and you see a chance to jump out to a start that very, very few teams in this franchise’s history have matched.

It’s an exhaustingly long season. Enjoy the ride.