LeBron James and the Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 114-106 at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Thursday, but they looked set for defeat in their home opener for much of the night. The 76ers trailed by as many as 29 points in the first half, and the home crowd unsurprisingly showered them with boos for putting in a horrendous performance.

Those booes turned into thunderous cheers when the 76ers mounted their comeback, though, and James was asked postgame about his impressions of the energy in the building.

“It was everything that I dreamed of and more,” James said, via PHLY Sports. “Got the boos; that was amazing. We deserved it. And then we got the cheers and almost blew the roof off this thing tonight in a good way. So it was a hell of a night.”

James got the full Philadelphia experience in his very first home game with the 76ers. The 41-year-old liked it, and you know the fans greatly appreciated this response. They will always be very vocal about how they feel about their team. Stink up the joint, and you’ll hear about it.

As James said, the 76ers deserved the boos that rained down on them in the latter stages of the first half and as they entered halftime. They had played about as poorly as possible.

The Cavaliers led 35-18 after the first quarter and then pushed their advantage to 69-45 at the break. Much of this was down to the 76ers shooting themselves in the foot, as they had a whopping 15 turnovers at halftime.

James had five of those turnovers. The 41-year-old also missed four of his six shots, and to say he was struggling would be an understatement.

You wouldn’t have seen a way back for the 76ers at that point, but they came out of the break with a lot more energy and focus. They started the third quarter on an 8-0 run and gradually started to trim that deficit.

The 76ers would win the third quarter 37-21, with James scoring 10 points in the period. That meant the Cavaliers only led 90-82 entering the fourth quarter, and we now had a game on our hands.

The home crowd was now firmly behind the 76ers, and they finally took a 96-95 lead when Joel Embiid hit a jumper over Jarrett Allen with 6:54 left in the fourth. It was the first time the hosts had led all night, and they wouldn’t squander that advantage. A night that had looked set to be disastrous ended with those home fans going berserk at the final buzzer.

This was the 76ers’ largest comeback win in the play-by-play era and also the Cavaliers’ largest blown lead. Interestingly, this was also the largest comeback of James’ career. The 22-time All-Star is in his 24th season, and he had never been a part of anything quite like this.

James, who finished with 17 points (5-14 FG), 10 rebounds, five assists, three steals, and one block, was asked here how they flipped the script, and he pointed to the turnovers.

“We had to stop turning the ball over,” James said. “I think we had 14 turnovers or something like that in the first half and like 19 points. We had to stop turning the ball over, and we had to be a little more aggressive defensively and just turn up a notch a little bit.”

The 76ers only had two turnovers in the second half, which is quite remarkable. They also held the Cavaliers to just 14-38 (36.8%) shooting from the field, and this is a recipe for success.

The 76ers have now improved to 2-0 in the 2026-27 season with wins over the Cavaliers and the defending champion New York Knicks. They’ll have it easier next time out, as they take on the Milwaukee Bucks at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET.