CLEVELAND -- With music thumping off the walls of the winning locker room, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Iman Shumpert dressed in a row Sunday with their heads bouncing to the beat.

It took a quarter of the season, but the Cleveland Cavaliers are getting healthy and finding their rhythm again.

Irving returned from knee surgery to score 12 points in 17 minutes, and the Cavs easily handled the Philadelphia 76ers 108-86 Sunday for their fifth consecutive win.

Irving missed his first five shots in his debut following June surgery to repair a fractured kneecap. Back after sitting out the season's first 24 games, he showed rust early, although he made four of five shots during one stretch. Irving returned in the fourth quarter with the Cavs ahead by 32 in order to reach his minutes allotment.

"Kind of been a long, long road," Irving said, "but finally getting out there with my teammates was a pleasure."

Forward LeBron James scored 23 points in a season-low 25 minutes for the Cavs (18-7), and guard Matthew Dellavedova scored 20 points off the bench, including four 3-pointers. Both marks were season highs for Dellavedova, who missed matching his career highs by one.

Forward Nerlens Noel had 15 points and 12 rebounds, and center Jahlil Okafor had nine points and eight rebounds for the Sixers (1-28), who have dropped 10 straight following their lone win of the season. Guard JaKarr Sampson had 10 points and seven rebounds off the bench.

Irving fractured his kneecap in Game 1 of the NBA Finals and needed 6 1/2 months of rest and rehabilitation. He practiced with his teammates for about two weeks, but the team was cautious in planning his return.

"It feels good, just getting this one out of the way," said Irving, who will face the New York Knicks on Wednesday before the Finals rematch with the Golden State Warriors on Friday. "Everyone was going to make speculation about when I should or when I should not come back, whether Christmas was a big-time game. Honestly, for me it was just about getting back when I got the clearance from my doctors, so, whether that be at Christmas or before Christmas, I was going to take their word and trust them."

He missed his first look Sunday -- a wide-open layup -- but later James gave him an easy basket after stealing a pass and flipping the ball ahead to Irving, who had no one between him and the basket. That first one seemed to get Irving going a little bit.

Irving later shifted through the defense for a layup, made a couple of 3-pointers and scored seven points in 2 1/2 minutes early in the third quarter, flashing the play that made him an All-Star MVP and two-time All-Star.

"You see a guy like that every day fighting his way back and working hard and going through stages, and I think the guys just felt good to see him out there, professionally and also on a human level," Cavs coach David Blatt said. "I know I did. I was truly happy to see him out on the basketball floor doing what he loves to do."

Dellavedova returned to the bench to make room for Irving, although Dellavedova entered as the league leader with 3.85 assists per turnover. He matched a season high with four turnovers but shot 4-for-6 on 3-pointers and 7-for-10 overall Sunday.

The Cavs took control in the second quarter when they forced 10 turnovers and the Sixers shot 19 percent (4-for-21) in the period. Cleveland led by 17 at the half and built the matgin to as many as 35 in the fourth quarter against the league's worst team.

The Sixers become the first team in NBA history to lose 28 of their first 29 games, something Noel acknowledged is getting more difficult to handle.

"Everybody's human," he said. "Everybody has their own frustrations, but you stay positive and you do your best to keep working through it."

Despite all of the losses, Sixers coach Brett Brown liked the way his team competed this season -- up until the last couple of weeks, when he is sensing frustration setting in. That was certainly true again Sunday against one of the league's elite. The Sixers lead the league in turnovers and added to it with 21 more Sunday.

"The physical side of the game got the better of us in a big way," Brown said. "I sit on the sideline sometimes thinking I'm crying too much for fouls. You go back and look at it and they're not fouls. The physical side of it does push our guys around. We get overwhelmed. There's a physical side right now we are lacking."

NOTES: Cleveland G Mo Williams has missed the last two games with a sprained right thumb, but he hopes to play Wednesday when the Cavs host the Knicks. Williams has twice needed surgery to insert pins after tearing a ligament in that thumb, but says this one isn't as serious. ... Cavs G Matthew Dellavedova is shooting 48 percent on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers. ... Sixers coach Brett Brown said he has cut G Nik Stauskas' minutes in part because Stauskas has struggled with his defensive effort in recent games. Stauskas was scoreless in 12 minutes Sunday. ... Brown met Cavs G Kyrie Irving when Irving was 2 days old. Brown coached his father, Drederick, and tried recruiting him to play for the Australian national team in the Olympics. Brown sees a lot of similarities between father and son. "Drederick had this New York City swagger, playground guard, score in his sleep, score any way he wants," Brown said. "Kyrie has his dad's scoring mentality."