Cavaliers Make History in Opening Night Loss to 76ers

A new NBA season has arrived and the Cleveland Cavaliers are already busy making history, It just happens to be for all the wrong reasons. 

According to ESPN, the Cavs became the first team in the shot clock era (which began in 1954) to go to halftime with a 20-plus-point lead in a season opener and lose.

Cleveland led the Philadelphia 76ers by as much as 29 points in the second quarter, but took a 24-point lead into the break on Thursday night, 69-45. Then watched it slowly evaporate over the course of the third and fourth quarters at the hands of LeBron James and company, resulting in a 114-106 loss. 

In previous instances of teams building a 20-plus-point lead in a season opener, those teams were a whopping 65-0. Adding insult to injury, the 29-point lead is the largest blown lead in the NBA during the play-by-play era (dating back to 1997-98) and thus is the largest comeback win for a team during that same span. 

The loss itself was bad enough for the Wine and Gold, but what's more embarrassing is the fact that this team seems to be developing quite the habit of blowing big leads. For fans, this epic collapse seemed all too familiar.

Back in May, during the team's playoff run to the Eastern Conference Finals, the Cavs opened up that series against the New York Knicks with a dominant effort that saw them take a 22-point lead into the fourth quarter. 

Cleveland proceeded to meltdown in a similar fashion to Thursday night, as the Knicks rallied to take a late lead and eventually pull away for a 115-104 win. The loss wound up setting the tone for the entire series, as New York went on to sweep the Cavs and advance to the NBA Finals, ultimately claiming its first championship since 1973. 

As unfathomable as this opening-night loss to Philly may be, it is just one of 82 games for Cleveland this season. This one doesn't have to be some referendum on how the 2026-27 campaign will go. 

However, it won't do much to help alter the image of this Cavaliers team, which publicly has developed a reputation for being too timid and lacking the maturity to close out games late. 

Where they go from here is ultimately up to them, but the beginning of the season won't provide much reprieve from being tested. In two weeks they will see this 76ers team again only in Cleveland, for a chance to exact some revenge. On Nov. 2 they'll host the 2024-25 NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder, who they then play on the road two days later. 

The Cavs also play the defending champion Knicks three times over the first two months of the season. They face last year's runner-up, the San Antonio Spurs, once during that span as well, and thus will continue to be tested early on this season.