Tyrese Maxey said the Philadelphia 76ers fans and the team's resilience were key in coming from 29 points back to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in their home opener. 

Maxey led all scorers with 32 points, while Joel Embiid chipped in with 24 as Philadelphia followed up their victory over the New York Knicks with a 114-106 triumph on Thursday.

LeBron James had 17 points and 10 rebounds and fellow newcomer Jaylen Brown scored 21, but the Sixers had things far from their own way in an enthralling encounter. 

The Sixers missed 11 of 15 3-pointers and had 14 turnovers (only 12 total against the Knicks) in the first half and the packed house erupted in boos late in the second period.

Donovan Mitchell scored 22 of his 32 points in the half as the Cavaliers stretched their lead to 29 points, but Cleveland suffered a monumental collapse from there on. 

Cleveland's advantage was gone when Embiid scored seven straight points in the fourth quarter to make it 96-95, and Philadelphia hammered home their advantage from there. 

The 29-point comeback was the Cavaliers' largest blown lead and the Sixers' biggest comeback in the play-by-play era. It was also the largest turnaround of James' career.

"It was just a great moment," said Maxey, who also added six assists.

"The crowd was into the game. We were just feeding off the crowd, feeding off our energy, feeding off our resilience."

COMEBACK SZN IN SOUTH PHILLY. @Bloom_Energy https://t.co/q97OoWVfAJ

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) October 23, 2026

As the first half ended, the crowd, most wearing the white opening night shirts with the Sixers roster and coach Nick Nurse printed on them, loudly booed.

But during the break, Maxey said he rallied his team-mates to try and turn things around, and he revealed what he said during his speech. 

"I said, 'Well, it's time to see what we made of. Are we going to be some front-runners and only be happy when stuff is good? Or when stuff is bad, are we going to fight and be resilient?' And we did that," Maxey said.

Embiid added that the team's resilience Thursday was different from past teams he has been a part of during his 11-year career with the Sixers. 

"No shade to anybody that's been here, but in the past, a lot of people would've just laid down and tried to move on to the next one," Embiid said.

"Yeah, it was different. I said last game, after the game, it just feels different."

And despite being thrilled with the way his team responded from going behind, James urged Philadelphia not to make it a constant theme throughout the season. 

"You don't want to rely on that," James said. "I think it's great to know deep down we're not going to have that quit mentality.

"But you don't want to put yourself in too many of those situations."