The Philadelphia 76ers (40-22) didn't have much time to celebrate their recent Joel Embiid-less win as they returned to action the very next day in a matchup with the Dallas Mavericks (33-31). With Embiid back in the lineup and Tyrese Maxey back with the starters, the Sixers and Mavs played one of the craziest games of the regular season, in which Philadelphia lost 133-126.
Let's break down an insane game between the Sixers and Mavs.
Sixers player notes:
Joel Embiid: 35 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 13-21 FG shooting
After sitting out yesterday night while the Sixers demolished the Miami Heat, Embiid returned to action and got right to work. He scored the first two buckets for Philly and disrupted two lob attempts. No one on the Mavs stood much of a chance to stop him as he and Harden linked up for several scores. All his buckets came in the paint or at the free-throw line against the undersized Mavs.
James Harden: 27 points, 4 rebounds, 13 assists, 8-12 FG shooting
Although Harden was turnover prone to start, he also didn't miss a shot and dished to his teammates repeatedly, as evidenced by the 16 points and seven assists he had in the first quarter. He secured a double-double by halftime but his impact fell off in the second half.
Tyrese Maxey: 29 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 12-21 FG shooting
Maxey took De'Anthony Melton's spot in the starting lineup after being bumped back up in Embiid's absence. He made things interesting to start the fourth quarter by igniting a run to chip away at the deficit. That run coming without Embiid or Harden is a good sign that Maxey, struggles and all, is still a very capable leader of an offense.
Mavs player notes:
Luka Doncic: 42 points, 4 rebounds, 12 assists, 13-22 FG shooting
Doncic's methodical, shifty way of attacking the hoop gave the Sixers fits. He opened up the game with a 17-point first quarter and just kept scoring and scoring. His otherworldly passing punished Philly for its proneness to help on drives too much. Oftentimes, he threw a pass to an open player Philly wasn't anticipating he would pass to and it led to an open look from three.
Not only did he post a high-scoring night but he helped fuel another with his playmaking.
Kyrie Irving: 40 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, 15-22 FG shooting
Irving has good games against the Sixers this season when he was with the Brooklyn Nets. The move to Dallas hasn't changed that, as he feasted against a weak point-of-attack defense. He hit shots from all over the floor both with and without Doncic's help. This was perhaps the best piece of evidence that the Mavs' new duo, which has not been that successful so far, has what it takes to be something special.
Game notes:
1st half
Embiid didn't waste any time getting reacclimated to the game. He scored on a tough layup and then pulled up for a smooth jumper at the nail, both coming off of Harden passes. Dwight Powell matched up with Embiid but was physically overmatched, forcing Dallas to try to shrink the floor in front of him by shading over. P.J. Tucker guarded Doncic and Maxey guarded Irving.
Just like yesterday night, both offenses came out cooking. Doncic and Irving were simply too good for the Sixers to stay in front of. The same could be said of Embiid, though he made it happen with his size rather than his crafty, change-of-pace handles. Harden notched five assists before the opening quarter was even half over. Melton subbed in for Maxey after Irving raced out to 10 points.
Georges Niang made it back into Doc Rivers' rotation (in place of Danue House Jr.) and drew a charge on Doncic on his first possession, giving the Mavs superstar his second foul. Doncic retaliated by drawing the switch on him and generating two triples. Harden, though, also hit two triples in between those possessions, one of which was a four-point play.
Rivers also went back to Montrezl Harrell, who subbed in after Paul Reed committed his third foul, two of which were shooting fouls against Christian Wood. While he helped Dallas build a multi-possession lead, Maxey knotted things up again. The kid from the nearby town of Garland scored on one drive to the bucket and dished to Melton for three on another. Irving, though, got whatever he wanted. Philly had no answers for him aside from keeping up on offense.
While Irving and Doncic cooked, the Sixers saw a more well-rounded scoring outing. Melton added 12 points off the bench in the first half to supplement the scoring from Philly's star duo. Dallas' star duo also coming to play led to some insane stat lines at the break. The Mavs led 71-67.
2nd half
Irving picked up right where he left off, scoring seven quick points and putting the Mavs up 12 in just under two minutes, forcing a Sixers timeout. Doncic assisted him on the timeout-causing triple and scored a three of his own. Defense in the NBA nowadays is more about containing the opposing offense rather than outright stopping it but still, they were both unconscious in their scoring. Although Philly could have made more dramatic tweaks to force the ball out of their hands, sometimes stars will just be stars.
The Sixers scored only four points in the first four minutes of the half while Irving continued to tear them apart, getting Reggie Bullock in on the fun by assisting him on a pair of triples. Embiid drew fouls and hunted for layups to help Philly stay in it, which is tantamount to peddling your bike faster to try to catch a Ferrari.
Embiid picked up his fourth foul of the game near the end of the third quarter. On the ensuing possession, Doncic flung a pass over his head to Maxi Kleber for three. Doncic then hit a step-back triple in Embiid's face to go up by 25. Later in the third quarter, Jalen McDaniels committed four fouls in less than 30 seconds, two on each end. Philly was down by as much as 25 points…but they were not out.
Even with the Mavs' scoring explosion, a 15-0 Sixers run (10 of which were scored by Maxey) got them to within four points with over nine minutes to go. Maxey, McDaniels and Paul Reed gunked up the Mavs offense while Maxey put on a show for his hometown. Doncic got subbed back in and Harden came in a minute later. Irving and Doncic put Dallas back up by 11 with Embiid set to check back in.
Some bad turnovers from Harden led to five Dallas points and although Maxey was in takeover mode, Irving and Doncic were in that zone, too. An Embiid layup made it a five-point game with 31 seconds left but Dallas held on.
Random thoughts:
- Absolutely love the Mavs' alternate retro branding with the light blue and green, especially in comparison to their typical uniforms and colorway.
- Is there a reason why the missed shots on Dallas' rims sound like a thud? I swear no other arena has rims that sound like that or microphones set up that make them sound like that.
The Sixers' road trip continues Saturday against the Milwaukee Bucks.
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