76ers 114, Cavaliers 106. Philadelphia comes back from 29 down.

Philadelphia was down 29 points in its home opener. By the end, the 76ers had beaten Cleveland 114-106. The comeback Thursday was not one brief burst that rescued an otherwise even game. It required an entire half of sustained work after Cleveland took a 69-45 lead into the break.

Tyrese Maxey scored 32 points, Joel Embiid had 24 and Jaylen Brown added 21. LeBron James finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds. The Associated Press game report credited Maxey's defensive pressure during a 15-0 fourth-quarter run that moved Philadelphia in front. Donovan Mitchell scored 32 for Cleveland in the Cavaliers' season opener.

Two quarters, the same 16-point gain

The quarter scores explain the size of the reversal. Philadelphia won the third 37-21, trimming its halftime deficit from 24 to eight. The Sixers then won the fourth 32-16, another 16-point gain. Together, those periods produced a 69-37 second half and an eight-point victory. The largest deficit was 29; the halftime deficit was 24. Those are different checkpoints in the same comeback.

Cleveland's early advantage was substantial and sustained. The Cavaliers scored 35 in the first quarter and 34 in the second. Philadelphia managed 18 and 27. There was no small adjustment that could erase that gap. The Sixers had to reduce Cleveland's scoring while finding enough offense to win both remaining quarters decisively.

They did exactly that. Cleveland scored only 37 points after halftime, two more than it had in the first quarter alone. Philadelphia, meanwhile, scored 69 after the break, matching Cleveland's entire first-half output. The game did not simply become closer. Its scoring pattern reversed.

The result follows Philadelphia's opening-night win over the Knicks. Two wins do not settle the Eastern Conference, but this one supplies something more concrete than preseason expectations: the Sixers recovered from a 29-point hole against Cleveland and finished the game ahead. The first half deserves examination. The second deserves recognition.