Mavs-Sixers preview: First teams meet this season

Jack WolfMarch 2, 2023

The most interesting aspect of the Philadelphia 76ers’ visit to the Mavericks on Thursday night for an early start on national television—other than to see if the Mavs can get the wheels back on the bus after two straight losses—is the chance to see two teams that Don’t be afraid to take bold steps.

The 66ers and the Mavericks are going for it. They would be a great fit for Tin Cup Roy McAvoy, even if they could also join him and hit a bunch of balls in the water before they get it right.

No one can blame the 66ers or the Mavericks for not throwing the dice.

Philadelphia has made it to the second round of the playoffs four of the last five seasons, but hasn’t been content with it. Just over a year ago, they sent Ben Simmons and a couple of first round draft picks along with other players to Brooklyn to get James Harden.

The thought was that Harden and Joel Embiid would give the superstar a one-two punch to take the Sixers to the next plateau.

In the second year of this experiment, the results were promising. The 66ers are firmly in third place in the Eastern Conference and they are really good on the road with a 15-11 record during Wednesday’s visit to Miami.

Mavericks? No decision has yet been made on how the Kyrie Irving-Luka Doncic pairing will work. The clock is ticking: The Mavericks have lost four of the five games they’ve played together.

However, the 66ers (and Phoenix on Sunday) represent potential callout games that could put the Mavericks back on their preferred path to avoid a play-in next month. The top six teams in each conference advance to the playoffs. Teams seven through ten play a mini-tournament to determine who will finish seventh and eighth.

From this moment on, it is necessary to monitor the scoreboard and the standings daily. The Mavericks could move up or down several places in the confusing Western standings in a day or two. It will be a wild ride.

Here’s what else to look out for when the 66ers arrive Thursday at 6:30 p.m.:

The Mavericks were not at all good against the Eastern Conference. They have an 8-14 record after Tuesday’s 124-122 loss to the Indiana Pacers. Meanwhile, the 76ers are 17-6 against teams from the West.
The Mavericks are learning on the fly and see themselves as a strong offensive team that can beat their opponents many times over. Defensively, they’ve had problems so far, allowing six of their last seven opponents to shoot 50% or better from the floor.
This is the fourth home stand of six games in which the Mavericks are 1-2 so far. Phoenix on Sunday afternoon and Utah on Tuesday the Mavericks will hit the road for 10 of their next 13 games.
The 76ers are led by Embiid and Harden, who combined average 54 points, 17 rebounds and 15 assists per game. Embiid, like Doncic, was an MVP contender until Denver’s Nikola Jokic’s mid-season sprint nearly outpaced everyone. Embiid still has a chance to become the top scorer. He is averaging 33 points per game, a fraction of a second behind Doncic. Harden really leads the league in assists at 10.7 per game.
This is the second of five consecutive road games for the Sixers. And back-to-back isn’t much harder than that, as it was in Miami on Wednesday night. The 66ers have a well-coordinated team, ranked seventh in the NBA in overall defense rating and seventh in defense rating.
Sixers defenseman Shake Milton is averaging 8.8 points and 2.9 assists in 21 minutes per game this season. Milton was an A student at SMU before he was drafted 54^th overall from the Mavericks in 2018 and quickly lost to the Sixers 56^th choose Ray Spaulding and 60^th choose Costas Antetokounmpo.
This is the first of two meetings this season. The Mavs and Sixers will meet again in Philadelphia on March 29th.

PHILADELPHIA 76ers (40-21) vs. DALLAS MAVERICS (33-30)