What Stood Out From the Cavaliers' 132-121 Victory Over the 76ers

Darius Garland made his long awaited return to the floor for the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night, as the Cleveland Cavaliers unveiled their 2003 throwback jerseys for the first time against Philadelphia 76ers visiting Rocket Arena. 

Joining Garland, were Jarrett Allen and Sam Merrill who missed two games and three games respectively due to minor injuries of their own. That trio's presence paid notable dividends on the offensive end of the floor in particular as the Cavs were too much for the short-handed 76ers, pulling away in the second half for a 132-121 win. 

Here's what stood out from a dominant performance at Rocket Arena. 

It took Garland just eight games to return from his offseason toe surgery to make his 2025-26 debut for the Cavaliers. It was pretty obvious early on too that his mere presence on the floor helped the offense immensely.

After missing a three about 30 seconds into the game, Garland made his second three point attempt around the 10:48 mark of the first, for his first bucket of the season. He went on to score eight points on three-of-11 shooting. Head coach Kenny Atkinson never said he was on a minutes restriction, but he played about 26 minutes, which suggests the Cavs are being cautious at least.

Atkinson warned during his pregame presser that Garland would probably need some time to shake off the rust. I think that was evident on Wednesday, but it was just good to see Garland back on the floor. He'll only get better from here. 

In Sunday's win over the Atlanta Hawks, Donovan Mitchell just didn't quite look like himself. He wasn't getting downhill and took just three shots from inside the arc. He scored 37 points regardless and clarified after the game that it wasn't his hamstring bothering him, but that he had been sick for a few days. 

On Wednesday night, with three days between games Mitchell looked very much like himself. Mitchell got off to a blistering start, dropping 15 points in the first quarter and simply never cooled off. He added six in the second, another 15 in the third and 10 in the fourth to finish with 46. It was an MVP caliber performance, but those have been pretty common from him already this season.  

Mitchell entered the night shooting a career high 55% from the floor and 43.6% from three. Those percentages were 71% and 54% against Philly. He's off to an absolutely torrid start. 

The word clunky had been tossed around several times by Kenny Atkinson to describe the Cavaliers offense over the first seven games of the season. With Garland back in the mix, Wednesday night the wine and gold put together what was easily their best offensive performance of the season.

Cleveland blitzed the 76ers early on, outscoring them 17-4 over the first four minutes of play. The ball movement was immaculate, with the Cavs continually swinging the rock around the half court until they found the best possible look. It was fluid. It was active. It was hard to defend. 

Guys were also getting the shots they wanted. Mobley knocked down two threes in the opening stanze. Mitchell was brilliant shooting four-for-five from the floor and three-for-four from three to finish the quarter with 15 points. After one, the Cavs had scored 41 points and led by 14. 

Naturally, Philadelphia closed the gap on a few occasions throughout the rest of the game, but never enough to be a serious threat. Cleveland shot 53% from the floor as a team. 

Mobley's acclimation to an increased role will continue to be something to monitor all season. But on the night where it wasn't totally on him and Mitchell to carry the entire offensive workload, he seemed to find his comfort zone. 

The reigning Defensive Player of the Year was an efficient nine-of-17 from the floor, racking up 23 points. Five of those shots were threes, which feels like a solid place to live in terms of three point attempts for on any given night, and he knocked down three of them to boot. His shot profile was a nice mix of outside and inside looks. Wednesday night felt like a blueprint for where Mobley should exist on any given night. 

Admittedly, much of formative years were spent watching LeBron James from his rookie season on rising into the star he is today in the navy blue jerseys that debuted in 2003. Bringing those back tonight was a nice touch. Everything from the classic look on this era's players, to the old school Cavaliers logo plastered on top of a basketball and with the sword going through it was perfect. 

They even had some call backs to 2003 in the intro video the team played before the starting lineups were announced. It was such a nice touch and fans really embraced the nostalgic look.