The Philadelphia 76ers (30-19) squared off with the Dallas Mavericks (27-23) for the first time this season as Joel Embiid continued his injury recovery. The Sixers lost to the Mavs with a final score of 118-102 in what was at first a promising effort.

Let’s break down the Sixers' sixth loss in their last seven games.

76ers player notes:

Tyrese Maxey: 15 points, 2 rebounds, 7 assists, 6-16 FG shooting

Against his hometown team, Maxey got off to a strong start shooting the ball but sabotaged it through abundant fouling. For the rest of the game, although he still made some critical plays here and there, he wasn’t nearly as effective. Dallas was able to force him to settle for looks in the midrange, where he has yet to find a consistent feel.

Tobias Harris: 17 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, 8-11 FG shooting

Harris looked good in his return, scoring extremely efficiently to offset Maxey's struggles. He and Maxey were far and away the most important playmakers in this game for the Sixers, too. Since he wasn’t taking a bunch of threes — somewhat understandable with Embiid not there to create good looks — the least he could do was get his teammates in position to shoot them.

Mavs player notes:

Luka Doncic: 19 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 6-15 FG shooting

Doncic succumbed to early foul trouble, too, and wasn’t all that great in this game. Jaden Springer gave him a world of problems when they matched up. But his ability to see over the defense and make the right passes still helped the Mavs, even if his passes weren’t capped off by buckets from his teammates. He at least did make four of his 10 tries from downtown.

Game recap:

1st half

The 76ers should have some more genuine clarity on Embiid's situation following his procedure this week. In the meantime, they had Dallas' star duo on deck after getting smoked by a much less talented Brooklyn Nets squad on Saturday. Nick Nurse is looking for players to step up and provide consistent play to make up for Embiid's absence and try to “pick off” wins. Harris returned from an illness to alleviate some of the Sixers' depth concerns.

The Sixers had Kelly Oubre Jr. on Doncic to start the night. Josh Green guarded Maxey. Both stars were met with intensity well up the court each time they brought the ball up. In transition and pull-up threes, Maxey made his first three shots of the night, though he also picked up a pair of early fouls. Philly started out running double drag screens with one of the benefits being that it was harder to trap Maxey high up the court.

After Maxey was called for a third foul — a charge played well by Dwight Powell — less than seven minutes into the game, he was subbed out. Fortunately for the Sixers, Doncic worked his way up to two fouls early. Philly managed to keep pace with Dallas despite throwing egregiously bad passes that the Mavs easily took away. Nine points from Oubre helped in a big way.

The Sixers improved their lead to start the second quarter as Harris worked his way into the mid-range for clean jumpers, though the Mavs started to gain some rhythm on offense. Springer got a chance to guard Doncic and held his own. Noting came easy for the Dallas superstar and he even coughed up the ball a few times, though Philly still showed enough extra help behind Springer for him to assist his teammates from deep.

While Springer's poor handle in the open court was exposed, his outstanding defense in the open court shined. He didn’t give one of the NBA's premier offensive creators an inch to work with and forced him into several turnovers. Neither team's halfcourt offense was operating worth a nickel but Philly's ability to score in transition — which Springer helped by assisting Oubre for a fast break layup – gave them an early edge.

The Sixers led 57-53 at the break.

2nd half

Maxey returned to the game and cooked the Mavs on drives to the bucket. For as poorly as Doncic was scoring, he routinely made the right passes. Green used them well, including on a scoop layup along the baseline in one possession early in the half, as he reached 20 points. Dallas reclaimed the lead as Irving got some very tough shots to fall.

Springer again matched up with Doncic but the Mavs superstar wasn’t as easy to stop this time. He pushed Springer into the paint and hit a step-back three over him. He was absolutely hosed on a foul call where he clearly stripped the ball away but made up for it by getting out in transition. Instead of trying to go up with the defenders, he dished it off to teammates, though he didn’t have anything to show for that, either. Mo Bamba missed the initial shot and scored on a putback while a call on a Maxey layup was overturned to a charge.

The 76ers offense mustered up just 17 points in the third quarter after going scoreless for over three minutes. Doncic continued exposing the Sixers' defensive rotations with smart playmaking. But the Mavs helped him by giving him options to go to when he got double-teamed. Irving had enough buckets to tide the Mavs over as they took a lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Sixers went small to start the fourth. But what the Mavs lacked in size themselves, they more than made up for with spacing. Each player around Doncic could shoot and pass out of the short roll, allowing Dallas to go up by as much as 15 points. It took the Mavs five minutes to score more than Philly did in the entire third quarter.

Dallas' ball movement was stupendous while the 76ers found it hard to generate clean shots. It was a runaway game once the rest of the Mavs started picking apart the Sixers' scrambling defense. Nurse emptied the bench with Furkan Korkmaz, K.J. Martin, Ricky Council IV and Terquavion Smith. Smith wasted no time draining a triple and the Mavs' A.J. Lawson gave the crowd free Chick-fil-A with a pair of missed free throws. So, that was cool.

Random tidbits:

  • Markeiff Morris may not play much for Dallas but it surely must have been cool to see his brother repping their hometown in person. The twins reconnected pregame with each other and their family.
  • Nurse went with a nine-man rotation in this game. It's a strange decision considering Furkan Korkmaz's recent stretch of promising play but with so many key guys already out, one would think the best course is to spread the minutes with the rest of the guys more evenly.

The 76ers' next game is on Wednesday against the Golden State Warriors.