With a strange loss in Dallas on Friday night, the Sixers fell to their first losing streak of 2022.
The team dropped a 107-98 game to the Mavericks that included a basket-related delay which lasted longer than many quarters (details below).
Joel Embiid scored 27 points and pulled down 13 rebounds.
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All-Star Luka Doncic had 33 points, 15 assists and 13 rebounds.
In addition to Tim Hardaway Jr. (left foot surgery) and Sterling Brown (left foot soreness), Dallas was down big men Maxi Kleber (left knee effusion) and Kristaps Porzingis (right knee bone bruise).
Furkan Korkmaz missed a third consecutive game with left knee soreness. Shake Milton has been out since suffering a back contusion during the Sixers’ Jan. 3 win over the Rockets.
The 31-21 Sixers will play the Bulls on Sunday afternoon in Chicago and try to snap their two-game skid. Here are observations on their loss to the Mavs:
NBA
Normal Embiid start … abnormal hoop
Kleber was a late scratch, which meant the Mavs went with Dwight Powell on Embiid. Powell had a difficult start against the five-time All-Star, committing an early foul and conceding a pull-up jumper.
When Powell picked up his second foul, Marquese Chriss checked in. Embiid tested the 24-year-old right away, driving past Chriss after a pick-and-pop with Seth Curry. His dunk built the Sixers’ lead to 19-14.
Both Embiid and the game’s momentum got abruptly interrupted in the middle of the first quarter. After making a three-pointer, Doncic pointed out that the rim was askew. Despite a good-natured attempt at fixing the hoop from 7-foot-3 Boban Marjanovic, a ladder, leveler and other tools besides enormous hands were required.
Just when it appeared the action would resume, official Courtney Kirkland noted the backboard wasn’t properly aligned. American Airlines Center staff then went about replacing the entire hoop, which extended a delay that was already quite lengthy and bizarre. Can’t make this stuff up. The game finally resumed after a delay of over 40 minutes.
After Powell was called for his third foul late in the second quarter, Marjanovic played for the first time since Dec. 27. The Sixers were eager to attack that matchup and Embiid sunk a step-back three-pointer over his former teammate.
Dallas opened the second half playing zone defense and had success with it. A failed high-low pass from Tobias Harris to Embiid sparked a Mavs fast break that ended on a Doncic dunk. The Mavs ultimately got a deficit as high as 16 points in the second down to one before the Sixers scored on a Tyrese Maxey fast-break layup assisted by Embiid.
For opponents ill-equipped to guard Embiid — that’s most of them, to be frank — why not try some zone? The Sixers have allowed teams to turn games by struggling against zone defenses several times this season. An occasional game with bad shooting luck is fair enough, but it’s got to be frustrating (and perplexing) for the Sixers that the zone issues still exist 50-plus games into the season. They've let one or two empty possessions of zone offense bleed into bad stretches characterized by minimal dribble penetration and slow ball movement too often.
Sixers better in star-less minutes
Doncic played the entire first quarter and then watched the Sixers broaden their advantage from the bench early in the second.
Sixers head coach Doc Rivers played Garland, Texas native Maxey (18 points, six assists) with a four-man second unit of Isaiah Joe, Danny Green, Georges Niang and Andre Drummond. The odd delay likely gave Rivers a bit more rotation flexibility, but the reps for Maxey with Drummond and other bench players are valuable whatever the circumstances. We’ll see what happens before Thursday’s trade deadline — the rumors about James Harden, Ben Simmons and potential deals will undoubtedly continue — but it seems likely that Maxey will be an important piece of non-Embiid playoff lineups this year.
Those minutes Friday were promising. Maxey was threatening as a downhill scorer and Niang benefited with three-point looks off of the 21-year-old’s drives and kick-outs.
After the Sixers’ bench scored 26 points fewer than the Wizards’ on Thursday, the team’s second unit posted 23 points and Dallas’ notched just eight. Though still without Korkmaz and Milton, the Sixers looked significantly deeper with Curry back in the lineup after a game out because of back spasms.
Again, the Sixers were superior to the Mavs with both Embiid and Doncic on the bench early in the fourth period. Maxey got rolling again, Niang hit another long ball and the Sixers opened the fourth on an 11-0 run.
Doncic keys Dallas comeback
Doncic and Jalen Brunson were the Mavs’ main shot creators. Outside of those two, however, Dallas was limited.
Brunson posed problems for Maxey by keeping his dribble alive, capitalizing on tricky shifts in pace and advantageous angles. Doncic drew a variety of pick-and-roll coverages from the Sixers. Embiid even came out well beyond the three-point line at times to assist Matisse Thybulle, which created scrambling defensive situations that Doncic is very familiar with exploiting.
Doncic knotted the game at 76-all with an and-one floater in the third quarter, and he dished the ball to Reggie Bullock for a go-ahead three on Dallas’ next possession. Especially with Thybulle on the bench, the Mavs focused on getting Doncic constant touches. Good general principle to feed a great player, and it paid off late in the third. A Doncic dunk over Drummond made it 85-78 Dallas.
Doncic wasn't unstoppable in the final minutes, but his teammates chipped in well enough to earn the Mavs a win. Bullock fired 11 threes and made four of them, including two key ones in the final quarter, and the Sixers couldn't string together baskets against the Dallas zone.