LeBron James Calls Peyton Watson a ‘Great Addition’ After Cavaliers Rout 76ers

Peyton Watson returned from a two-game absence Friday night and had 13 points and 9 rebounds as the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Philadelphia 76ers 119-95 at Rocket Arena.

Watson sat out both of Cleveland’s games against the Oklahoma City Thunder this week with right hamstring tightness. He and Tyrese Proctor were cleared to play before tip-off. With Jarrett Allen out, he started at power forward next to Evan Mobley. He shot 6-of-14 from the field, and Cleveland outscored Philadelphia by 22 points with him on the floor.

LeBron James said Watson was dealing with injuries over the last couple of years.

“Tonight he played well. Exceptionally well. He had a great summer,” James said. “Obviously, [he] was dealing with some injuries over the last couple years, but he had a great summer. It was a great addition to the ball club.”

Cleveland acquired Watson in a four-team sign-and-trade with the Denver Nuggets that was agreed to on Aug. 19. He signed a four-year, $88 million contract that includes a player option and a trade kicker. Max Strus went to Los Angeles in the deal, and Denver received an unprotected 2031 first-round pick from Cleveland.

Last season, his fourth in Denver, Watson averaged career highs of 14.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.1 assists. He started 40 games and shot 41.1% from 3-point range.

A right hamstring strain cost him time last March. Before Wednesday’s game, Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said Watson’s hamstring and Jaylon Tyson’s ankle were on the same track. Watson started each of Cleveland’s first six games and averaged 10.8 points and 4.0 rebounds in them.

76ers coach Nick Nurse expected a sharp Cleveland team on Friday, with the Cavaliers coming off two straight losses and the 76ers and the New York Knicks visiting on consecutive nights.

“At some point over an 82-game season, you’re down. We’re just kind of — nothing kind of goes right with it. It felt like it, in both sides,” Nurse said. “We were lackluster, and they were very, very good, right?”

“We expected them to be very good tonight, considering that they had a couple tough losses in a row,” Nurse continued. “They had us [and] New York coming to town. They had to dig in, and they did. So they were excellent. We were not very good. Probably one of the once in a while that’s going to happen. Important thing is that we get over it and bounce back on Sunday.”

Cleveland lost to Oklahoma City 117-112 at home Monday and 124-116 on the road Wednesday. On Friday, after VJ Edgecombe opened the scoring with a breakaway dunk, the Cavaliers answered with 15 straight points.

Nurse said Philadelphia’s early turnover count was officially two but could have been four, because a couple of plays where Joel Embiid might have been hit on the sweep-through went down as shot attempts.

“We just got off to a poor start with taking care of the ball, and that hurts because I think Mitchell’s first eight points were in transition, right?” Nurse explained. “You got all these game plans and everything, and you know he’s going to be aggressive. You hate to kind of gift him eight out of the blocks like that, and our poor offensive execution was the result of that. It was the reason.”

Donovan Mitchell finished with 23 points, 7 rebounds, and 8 assists in 33 minutes. He went 7-of-18 from the field and 8-of-10 at the free-throw line. Mobley scored 22, and James Harden added 17.

As poorly as Philadelphia played, Nurse thought the 76ers were still close enough in the third quarter to be in good shape if they found some energy.

“I think they hit back-to-back threes on us and kind of — they had a three. We obviously didn’t score. They hit another one,” Nurse said. “And I think it’s too bad because I thought at that point, as poorly as we were playing and we were still hanging around, that if we could kind of click in energy-wise and start doing some things, we were going to be in good shape.”

“But they are the ones that kind of clicked away from us,” Nurse added. “And I think that even zapped whatever energy we had. It zapped it even more.”

Cleveland outscored Philadelphia 29-20 in the third quarter and led by as many as 25 in the fourth. The 76ers shot 36.5% from the field and 10-of-40 from 3-point range. The Cavaliers out-rebounded them 65-51.

The teams opened their season series Oct. 22 in Philadelphia. The 76ers trailed 69-45 at halftime, outscored Cleveland 69-37 after the break, and won 114-106, the largest comeback win of James’ career.

James said Philadelphia had no juice in the first half that night.

“I thought they had extra juice when they played us in Philly,” James explained. “We just had a little bit. We just was able to — we didn’t have any juice the first half. We got a lot of juice in the second half, but it wasn’t much different from then.”

James finished Friday with 8 points on 3-of-12 shooting and 6 turnovers. Joel Embiid missed all nine of his field-goal attempts and scored 6 points, all at the free-throw line.

Friday was Philadelphia’s second loss in 10 games. Cleveland improved to 5-4.

Saturday’s 8 p.m. ET game against the Knicks is the back half of a back-to-back for Cleveland. Philadelphia plays at Chicago on Sunday.