Instant observations: Jared McCain leads valiant effort, but Sixers fall to unbeaten Cavaliers

Fresh off a loss to the New York Knicks in Joel Embiid's season debut on Tuesday night, the Sixers returned to their home floor Wednesday for the second leg of the first back-to-back on the team's 2024-25 schedule.

Nothing would come easy for the 2-8 Sixers. With Embiid and Paul George sidelined as the team managed their left knees — and Andre Drummond ruled out due to an illness — the extremely undermanned Sixers welcomed a 12-0 Cleveland Cavaliers team to town.

Up against the lone remaining unbeaten team in the NBA, the Sixers did anything but submit. Led by rookie Jared McCain, they showed tremendous guts. Unfortunately, McCain's continued heroics and the Sixers' fortitude still resulted in a loss just like any other, as they ran out of gas in the final frame. Here is what stood out from the Sixers' 114-106 loss:

Nick Nurse provides pregame updates on Embiid and George

The Sixers' head coach indicated before Wednesday night's game that Embiid and George had both responded well to the prior evening's game, and that their absences against the Cavaliers were merely part of their respective long-term plans. He confirmed that both Embiid and George will be back in action on Friday night, when the Sixers kick off a three-game road trip.

Perhaps the most encouraging piece of Nurse's update was that upon returning on Friday, George will no longer have any minutes restrictions or limitations.

McCain gets first NBA start; Guerschon Yabusele earns first start as a Sixer

With George and Tyrese Maxey sidelined and a new face on the perimeter needing to be added to the starting lineup, McCain became the obvious choice. The rookie put together an absolutely stellar three-game stretch entering this one, averaging 22.5 points per game on an excellent 60.9 true shooting percent across games against the Los Angeles Lakers, Charlotte Hornets and Knicks.

McCain quickly became a focal point of the Sixers' offense whenever he entered those games, whether it be as an on-ball scorer or off-ball shooter. The Sixers were desperate for an infusion of offense with George and Embiid joining Maxey on the injury report, McCain was their best bet.

With Drummond also unavailable behind Embiid, Yabusele was the only real option to start at center. Yabusele's continued growth at the five has been one of the most positive, unexpected developments of the season to date — his ability to be used as a small-ball center had barely been pondered before Embiid's extended absence to begin the season forced Yabusele into the role.

Nurse indicated pregame that the team would spent portions of the game going small against a massive Cleveland frontcourt, but also suggested that rookie center Adem Bona would be in line to see some minutes.

McCain and Kelly Oubre Jr. shoulder the early load on offense, while makeshift defense holds up

Those who assumed the short-handed Sixers would instantly get dominated by the undefeated Cavaliers quickly proved to be incorrect. The Sixers actually outplayed Cleveland for much of the opening frame, with McCain and Oubre leading the way.

Naturally, Nurse's offense was limited in the shots it could generate without its three All-Stars available. It quickly became clear that their goal was to win the game with shooting variance — and that meant getting tons of three-point tries up and hoping to ride a hot night to an upset win.

McCain drained a pair of threes in the first quarter -- including the team's first basket of the game -- but struggled to finish inside the arc despite some crafty maneuvering inside. Oubre knocked down an early triple and had a pair of self-created two-point baskets to help give the Sixers some offensive stability. The start to the year has been rough for Oubre on offense, whenever the Sixers are missing multiple stars they will look to him as someone whose offensive role can be scaled upwards.

Bona and Reggie Jackson step up

Cleveland took a four-point lead into the second quarter thanks to an impressive, balanced scoring attack. But the Sixers threw a strong counterpunch in the second quarter, and it came from lineups featuring four reserves. In the middle was Bona, who played seven minutes, made his lone shot attempt and grabbed five rebounds. It was Bona's first extended stretch of playing time during the early portion of a game, and he did not look rattled or out of place.

Two-way point guard Jeff Dowtin Jr. missed all three of his shots in the first quarter after struggling quite a bit against New York. So, Nurse went back to the veteran Jackson in hopes of finding some sort of offensive spark — and that is exactly what Jackson gave the team, scoring eight points on 3-of-3 shooting from the field in seven minutes of action:

The Sixers outscored Cleveland by nine points in Jackson's seven minutes of work during the second quarter, an enormous lift at the perfect time.

Sixers carry 54-48 lead into intermission

The Sixers had several quality offensive contributors in the first half. McCain stole the show again with 16 points and five assists in 17 minutes, drilling two more triples in the second quarter. Oubre reached double-figures before halftime, and Jackson's eight points were critical.

But the Sixers' team defense was incredibly impressive during the half. The Cavaliers entered this contest with what has clearly been the NBA's best offense to date, and the Sixers were able to quiet a strong cast of contributors. Superstar lead guard Donovan Mitchell only made two of his nine shot attempts in the first half, burgeoning star Evan Mobley only made one of his three field goal tries and bench spark plug Caris LeVert went just 2-of-6 from the floor.

Cleveland has also done an excellent job of taking care of the ball in 2024-25, and the Sixers were able to generate turnovers. McCain and Caleb Martin each nabbed two steals in the first half.

Speaking of Martin, the hard-nosed wing appears to be finding a rhythm as a scorer that helps these Sixers survive on the offensive end of the floor. Martin scored 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field against New York, and in the first half against Cleveland he totaled 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

Cavaliers open second half with strong push

It was only a matter of time before a team this good with an offense so prolific was able to get going, and perhaps new head coach Kenny Atkinson gave Cavaliers players the halftime pep talk they needed. Cleveland opened the third quarter with a 12-5 run in about three and a half minutes to retake the lead and force a timeout from Nurse. Cleveland extended their lead to a game-high six points, but yet another McCain flurry — and the Cavaliers' lengthy struggles from beyond the arc — prevented them from extending their lead to tremendous lengths.

Finally, Cleveland connected on a pair of triples — including one from old friend Georges Niang — to gain a bit of breathing room near the end of the third quarter, but a pair of free throws from Eric Gordon and a putback layup from Oubre trimmed the lead to four entering the final frame.

Three-point regression hitting Kyle Lowry hard

The 38-year-old floor general had an absurd open to the season as a long-range shooter, knocking down 60 percent of his three-point tries during the first six games of the Sixers' season. Of course, that clip was never sustainable, and the inevitable regression has hit Lowry like a ton of bricks:

Lowry made only two of his 11 three-point attempts during the following three games entering this one, and could not buy a shot against Cleveland. Nurse has spoken at length about Lowry's ideal role this season being one in which he can be swiftly removed from action if the matchup is clearly not right for him -- an increasingly frequent occurrence given his diminished athleticism. With Maxey and George sidelined, though, Nurse can only leave Lowry on the bench for so long.

Feeling good about Jackson after his first-half burst, though, Nurse gave Lowry a quick pull in the third quarter in hopes of seeing Jackson get right back in a groove.

Sixers refuse to go away, with McCain taking charge again

Time and time again, McCain blows expectations out of the water — even as those expectations grow and his placement on the scouting report elevates.

Cleveland used its ace perimeter defender, Isaac Okoro, to defend McCain. The Duke product was asked to handle an offensive burden far more significant than any player ever should be in their 11th professional contest. By the time the fourth quarter had gotten underway, Cleveland had started blitzing McCain out of pick-and-rolls.

And all he did was find ways to beat every coverage. He did it from beyond the arc, he did it from the mid-range area and on a few occasions he converted around the rim. What McCain is doing is not normal:

To dice up an elite NBA team like this so early in one's career is nearly unfathomable.

Sixers fall just short in final moments

Mitchell made some tremendous plays down the stretch, and the Cavaliers just had too significant of a talent discrepancy on their side for the Sixers to overcome. After all of McCain's brilliant plays and the reasons to feel optimistic about the Sixers' showing against the NBA's best so far in 2024-25... the Sixers are 2-9.

Up next: The Sixers will get set to embark on a three-game road trip, beginning with two games in Florida: they are set face the Orlando Magic on Friday night, before taking on the Miami Heat on Monday. Then they travel to Memphis for their second game of the season against the Grizzlies before returning home.

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