Jordan Clarkson threw ball at Dario Saric for breaking unwritten NBA rule: Inside Cavaliers-76ers

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Philadelphia's Dario Saric dunked in the open court with 12 seconds left and the Sixers headed for a win, so the Cavs' Jordan Clarkson hit him in the back with the ball.

"It was just part of the game," Clarkson said.

The Sixers beat the Cavs 108-97 on Thursday. When Saric went in for the dunk, Philadelphia was up eight and could run out the clock.

There's an unwritten rule in the NBA basically banning such a play. If you're ahead by multiple possessions, and it's your ball with one shot clock left, dribble out the clock and shake hands.

Saric didn't do that and Clarkson grabbed the ball out of the net and flipped it into his back. Clarkson, naturally, was ejected.

"If anybody say different, that they wouldn't have did that, that they'd have did something different, or anything else, they lying," Clarkson said. "Especially if it was at that (point -- he said play) of the game. They know what's up. That's it."

Saric, who is in his second season out of Croatia, likely didn't know the unwritten rule. He probably does now.

"It was not against the Cavs organization," Saric said. "I saw Ben (Simmons) dunk the ball and I wanted to do the same. In one way, I want to apologize to them, because I finished that ball."

Simmons dunked with 26.5 seconds remaining for a 10-point lead. No one threw the ball at him.

Saric hit a key 3-pointer with 2:09 remaining to put Philadelphia ahead 98-94, in answer to a Kyle Korver 3. Saric said something to the Cavs' bench after the shot.

"Oh I ain't even seen that," Clarkson said.

Lue to simply Cavs' offense

"Listen, they won the game," LeBron James added.

Yes, the Sixers never trailed in this game. The Cavs are 2-3 since the All-Star break, with all their losses at home, and the initial shine of winning two big games with four new players before the break has worn off.

After the game, Tyronn Lue openly discussed the idea of simplifying the offense, cutting down on the number of sets the Cavs try to run so new players George Hill, Rodney Hood, Jordan Clarkson, and Larry Nance Jr. don't have to think so much on the court.

"Just right now offensively we're just playing in thought too much," Lue said. "It's not fair to those guys that, you know, maybe we should slow down offensively. Adding I think is just too much for the guys right now. Just trying to think and play, it's too hard. I think if you go back to our Boston and OKC game they didn't know any plays and they were playing better. You're just playing free without being in thought."

Hood started for JR Smith (suspension) and went 5-of-14. Hill, coming off a 26-point outing Tuesday, was 3-of-10 for seven points. They've been the streakier of Cleveland's four new players.

Nance added 13 points and seven rebounds and Clarkson contributed 10 points.

After losing to the Spurs on Sunday, Lue said the Cavs' offense was becoming too predictable in its simple state and needed to expand. They've been drilling new plays and sets at practices and shootarounds, but adding four players from three different teams in February is a tough task.

"A lot of times just calling plays on the fly and guys are like, 'Am I over there or am I over here?'" Lue said. "It's just, we have to somehow continue to get better and keep adding, but also try to keep it simple for right now for these new guys until we're able to catch up."

LeBron agrees

Here's what James thinks about Lue's idea.

"I think right now there's so much that we're trying to fast track that it can become too much sometimes," James said. "It's tough on our new guys. It's seven games and we're trying to put a lot in and get a lot in for these guys. Maybe scale a little bit back and see if us just trying to play a little bit faster and play a little bit more open is a better thing for our team until we can more pinpoint where our offensive sets when we get more practice."

Got it.

One of best plays of LeBron's career

By now, you've seen James' absurd behind-the-back, through-Tristan-Thompson's legs dribble to split a double team in the first quarter.

"It was planned for me to go behind my back," James said. "It's not planned to go between his legs but some of the best alley-oops are some of the worst passes."

James said he didn't know until halftime that he'd actually dribbled between Thompson's legs.

"One of my guys from the NBA showed me and I was like, 'OK, yeah, that's probably one of the best plays I've had in my career," James said.

Simmons 'just like me'

James drew a special comparison for Simmons.

He said the matchup problem Simmons brings is "the same one I bring.

"Power, speed, quickness, size, court awareness. Same one I bring," James said.

Simmons, who is 6-10 and a point guard, finished with 18 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists. James has an off-court relationship with Simmons through their shared agent, Rich Paul.

But that is some hefty praise, nonetheless.

Not a soul who could stop Embiid's shot

There was still time left for the Cavs to respond (they didn't) but Joel Embiid's 13-footer off a turnaround jumper, after his drive was met by Nance, with 1:44 left for a 100-94 Sixers lead was a huge shot.

"That last shot he hit, the dribble-spin-fade, there's not a soul in the league who can guard that," Embiid said. "That's one of those shots he makes and you just tip your hat to him like, 'Great shot.' I've played the best defense you probably could on that. I thought I gave him a hard time all night. I thought both Tristan and I gave him a hard time all night. He's a great player, so things like that are going to happen."

Embiid went for 17 points and 14 rebounds.

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