{"id":909261,"date":"2026-11-07T16:38:16","date_gmt":"2026-11-07T16:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/909261\/"},"modified":"2026-11-07T16:38:16","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T16:38:16","slug":"theres-only-one-way-lebron-james-return-to-cleveland-with-76ers-couldve-gone-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/909261\/","title":{"rendered":"There’s only one way LeBron James’ return to Cleveland with 76ers could’ve gone worse"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND \u2014 Donovan Mitchell scored 23 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers held LeBron James to eight points in his return to Northeast Ohio and rolled to a 119-95 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers in an NBA Cup group stage game Friday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I damn sure wasn\u2019t good at all,\u201d James said, according to ESPN.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

James \u2014 who elected to sign with Philadelphia in the offseason instead of returning for a third stint with Cleveland \u2014 was 3 of 12 from the field, including 0 for 4 on 3-pointers, in 31 minutes. <\/p>\n

James received a smattering of boos from Cavaliers fans every time he touched the ball during the first half and left the game with 3:54 remaining.<\/p>\n

\"PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia 76ers forward LeBron James (23) argues a call with referee Kevin Scott (24) during the first half against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

However, James\u00a0said the reception could have been much worse.<\/p>\n

And he would know best.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, nothing can get worse than Dec. 2, 2010, from a reception standpoint,\u201d James said, referencing his first game in Cleveland after leaving his hometown team for the Heat in frree agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I\u2019ve seen the depths of hell when it comes to reception here, all the way to the heavens above. So, anything in between is easy money.\u201d<\/p>\n

And It was only the 10th time in his 24-year career that James has scored in single digits in the regular season. The Akron, Ohio, native\u2019s NBA-record run of 1,297 consecutive regular-season games with at least 10 points ended on Dec. 4 last season in the Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 victory at Toronto.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I definitely did not feel in a good rhythm offensively,\u201d James said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t look like much offensively. \u2026 Too many turnovers on my behalf, and I didn\u2019t feel in a rhythm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evan Mobley added 22 points for the Cavaliers, who bounced back after two losses to Oklahoma City. Mitchell also had seven rebounds and eight assists in 33 minutes. James Harden scored 17.<\/p>\n

The 76ers shot 36.5% from the field, including 10 of 40 on 3-pointers. It has otherwise been a dream start for the 76ers this season with the team off to an 8-2 start.<\/p>\n

James and Jaylen Brown, who the 76ers acquired in a trade with the Celtics, has blended together well with Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and VJ Edgecombe. <\/p>\n

\"PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia 76ers\u2019 LeBron James drives between Cleveland Cavaliers\u2019 Mario Hezonja and Meleek Thomas in Cleveland, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. AP Photo\/Phil Long<\/p>\n

The 76ers had beaten the Cavaliers in their second game of the season\u00a0with their only other loss coming against the Pistons.<\/p>\n

Brown led Philadelphia with 20 points, Edgecombe scored 19 and Maxey had 17. Embiid missed all nine of his shots from the field but was 6 of 6 from the line.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u00a0With AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND \u2014 Donovan Mitchell scored 23 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers held LeBron James to eight points in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":909262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[8174,3013,355,2113,99],"class_list":["post-909261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-lebron-james","tag-nba","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=909261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/909262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=909261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=909261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=909261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}