The Mavericks were blowing through the Atlantic Seaboard with more power than any Nor’easter could bring.
Then, their perfect storm ran out of punch in Philadelphia.
In their first two stops on the East Coast, the Mavericks were as destructive as anything Mother Nature could dish out.
But the 76ers brought a blizzard of their own in the second half Friday night betting big nights from MVP candidate Joel Embiid and James Harden and the Mavericks simply couldn’t keep pace, dropping a 111-101 decision to the Sixers at Wells Fargo Center.
After last-possession victories at Boston and Brooklyn paralyzed two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, the Mavericks were rolling through the upper east coast. But their road trip record fell to 3-1 after the Sixers took charge.
The Mavericks had won eight of their previous nine games and they had mounted major comebacks in many of those wins. But there was no such magic on Friday as they fell to 43-27 for the season. They were behind 101-81 with just over eight minutes left, and that was too much even for their rallying skills.
The Mavericks had a hard time figuring out the Sixers’ zone defense, which they used extensively in the second half.
Some of it boiled down to an inability to hit shots. But that wasn’t all of it, coach Jason Kidd said.
“When they play zone, you got to be able to make shots and we just didn’t do that tonight,” he said. “And when he (Dončić) makes the pass, we hold it.
“If you massage the ball, it gives the defense, the zone, the opportunity to get back in their position. When we did what we’re supposed to, good things happened. But we had some careless turnovers – stepping out of bounds, not just once but three times or four times. The court’s no bigger or no smaller here. We can’t do that against elite teams. We can’t have those careless turnovers. But sometimes the ball goes in for you and sometimes it doesn’t.”
But Kidd said the most important part was getting on the plane to Charlotte, where this trip ends Saturday against the Hornets. The Mavericks still have a chance to go 4-1 on this journey, which would be a splendid trip.
“This has been a pretty good road trip,” Kidd said. “This is a good way to end it, hopefully. But we can’t play like we did tonight or we’ll find ourselves with another loss.”
Luka Dončić had a miserable shooting night (5-of-20), but still managed a double-double with 17 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds.
So was it just an off-shooting night, or was the Sixers’ zone that troublesome?
“I think it was both,” he said. “They were playing great defense. But we didn’t make shots, either.”
The main Maverick who did was Jalen Brunson, who was 10-of-14 from the field.
Brunson went to college at nearby Villanova, where he was part of two national championship teams. With his father, Rick, in attendance, Brunson put on a show, although he admitted the Mavericks as a whole did not attack the Sixers’ zone well.
“We were just a little passive, I think, especially when the zone came,” Brunson said. “(But) it’s definitely fun playing here. I played in this building for three years (at college), grew up not too far from here. It’s definitely special.”
And as for Luka’s down night?
“He does a lot for our team,” Brunson said. “Luka does so much for us night in and night out, he produces for us. I know he’ll bounce back. He’s Luka.”
The good news is that he won’t have to wait long to do so as the trip wraps up Saturday.
It was the third top-shelf Eastern team in a row for the Mavericks and the Sixers looked the part as Embiid finished with 32 points and Harden had 24 points and 13 assists.
Twitter: @ESefko
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