The Philadelphia 76ers erased a 29-point deficit to stun the Cleveland Cavaliers 114-106 at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Thursday night, powered by 32 points from Tyrese Maxey in their home opener, according to ESPN's game coverage.
Cleveland led 69-40 in the second quarter and took a 24-point advantage into halftime before Philadelphia flipped the game entirely, outscoring the Cavaliers 69-37 after the break. The Sixers took their first lead of the night midway through the fourth quarter and closed it out with a 15-0 run, as reported by Yahoo Sports.
Maxey shot 12-of-23 from the field and added six assists in 42 minutes. Joel Embiid contributed 24 points and seven rebounds, Jaylen Brown scored 10 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter, and LeBron James posted 17 points and 10 rebounds in his home debut as a 76er.
Cleveland spoiled its season opener despite 32 points and 10 rebounds from Donovan Mitchell, who also committed five turnovers. The Cavaliers committed 21 turnovers as a team and shot just 7-of-29 from three-point range in the second-half collapse.
The rally is the largest comeback in 76ers franchise history in the play-by-play era, which began in the 1997-98 season. Philadelphia moves to 2-0 to open the season, while Cleveland drops its opener to 0-1. The Sixers' resilience through two games, built on second-half surges, has already become one of the early storylines of the young NBA season.