By: Kylan Watson
After falling to the Boston Celtics on Sunday night, the Philadelphia 76ers faced the new and improved Dallas Mavericks in South Philadelphia tonight. Both teams traded blows in this game, but thanks to a clutch basket, free throw, and rebound from a returning Joel Embiid. The Sixers were able to beat the Mavericks 118-116.
The Sixers finally got Joel Embiid back for the first time in a month after recovering from a swollen left knee and foot sprain. He immediately got to work imposing his will on both sides of the court. He scored 29 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, and had 10 assists in this contest. This was the eighth triple double of his career.
Embiid’s connection with Guerschon Yabusele (19 points) was a substantial difference maker in this contest, the Sixers fed the Mavericks with a steady diet of the Embiid to Yabusele high low play. Yabusele was able to get easy looks at the baskets because of those plays, and it helped Embiid score a clutch bucket to put this game away for the Sixers. Now that the Sixers have traded Caleb Martin away, this has created an opening at the power forward position for the Sixers and if Yabusele and Embiid connection continues to grow. Philly will have one of the best front courts in the association and will continue to build momentum before and after the upcoming All-Star Break.
Despite Embiid’s offensive explosion the Mavericks had an eight-point lead mid-way through the third quarter. Kyrie Irving (34 points), Naji Marshall (19 points), and Max Christie (15 points) combined for 68 of Dallas’ 116 points. Irving was able to kill the Sixers with his quickness throughout this game. He was able to attack the basket and get Philly’s defenders in foul trouble. That forced the Sixers to send multiple defenders at him and when that happened, he found his teammates for a high-percentage shooting opportunity.
The Sixers had to trap him to get the ball out of his hands and once that happened, they were able to slow down the Mavericks’ explosive defense, and that created enough opportunities for Philly to win this game.
Tyrese Maxey took this game over in the second half. He scored 33 points and had 13 assists in this contest. Maxey’s improvement as a passer was evident in this game, he created multiple high-percentage scoring opportunities for his teammates. Which they were able to cash in on which erased Dallas’ lead and put the Sixers in front in this contest.
The three-man game between Embiid, Yabusele, and Maxey created multiple high percentage shooting opportunities that allowed Philly to win this game and end their two-game losing streak.
Philly will now prepare to face the Miami Heat tomorrow night, and both teams could look different by the time they play the game with the trade deadline coming up on Thursday afternoon. The Sixers will need to win the turnover battle, keep the rebounding battle competitive, and continue to cash in on the high-percentage shooting opportunities created off their ball movement. They were able to do that tonight and their good shooting night created 37 assists in this contest, which is a new season high for Philly if they can get a similar number of assists tomorrow night, they should be able to beat the Heat and win their 21st game of the season.
