DALLAS — Tobias Harris scored 28 points, Tyrese Maxey added 24 points and the Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Dallas Mavericks 120-116 on Sunday.
The Sixers won for the second time in a 14-game losing streak that Joel Embiid missed, improving their record to 6 wins and 8 losses. The current MVP's return date after left knee surgery is undetermined.
“Everyone's kind of figuring out the overall chemistry as a group,” said Harris, who broke out of a slump by scoring 31 points in a 121-114 win over Charlotte. “We knew it would take time to find a way to succeed locally. We just had to keep at it.”
Luka Doncic recorded 38 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for his third straight triple-double, but the NBA's leading scorer also converted 7 of 17 turnovers for the lowly Mavericks.
Dallas lost 25-13 on a turnover, losing for the fourth time in five games since winning seven straight, the longest of the season.
Kyrie Irving had 28 points and Derrick Jones Jr. had 21 points, but for Dallas, P.J. Washington Jr. and Tim Hardaway Jr. made 4-of-18 field goals, including 3-pointers. He completed 1 out of 13 point shots.
Philadelphia, trying to maintain its playoff spot without Embiid, got a scare from Maxey in the third quarter, and the first-time All-Star took a hard fall and was silent for several minutes.
Maxey walked off the court himself and did not come out for the rest of the quarter. He returned to the starting No. 4 spot and made 8 of 15 field goals and all seven of his free throws, including five in the fourth quarter. Maxey said he took a knee to the head but was cleared by doctors to play.
“I just slipped a little bit,” Maxey said. “Maybe he's moving too fast and thinks I'm the Flash or something.”
Frustrated, Doncic received his 14th technical of the season in the fourth quarter, leaving him two games short of an automatic one-game suspension with 21 games remaining.
The Mavericks scored 11 points at the beginning of the game, but still trailed by 10 points by the end of the first quarter, thanks to Maxey's 17 points in the first quarter.
After a strong shooting start, Dallas dropped to 42% after three quarters, and Dallas moved up to fourth place.
“Our offense is our defense,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. “If we score, we'll be one of the best teams in this league. When we don't score, we'll be one of the worst teams. We're struggling to score. Sometimes we tend to do nothing on the defensive end.”
The Mavericks cut Philadelphia's largest lead to 18 with seven minutes remaining, and Oubre made a pass from the lane to Harris on a corner 3 with 1:11 left with four minutes remaining.
The Sixers held off a Dallas rally by making 5 of 6 free throws with 25 seconds left, including 1 of 2 by Oubre, giving Philadelphia a 4-point lead with 5 seconds left. gave.
Buddy Hield, who had 11 points, hit a jumper to start a 10-0 run that gave Philadelphia a 74-59 lead midway through the third quarter.
next
76ers: At Brooklyn on Tuesday.
Mavericks: Home at Indiana on Tuesday.
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