Chandler Parsons added 20 points for the Mavericks, who needed a late push to hold off Philadelphia.
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For the 76ers, the story of the night was turnovers.
They finished with 27 turnovers for the game.
“Incredible that it was that margin”, Sixers head coach Brett Brown said, referring to his team being within 5 points, 49-44, at the half.
But we all know the truth – it was the uniforms.
“I always said that when the body is hurting every day, and when you’ve got to do all this extra stuff to just play, I think that’s when it’s time to go”. “But 27 is just extraordinary”.
“It’s frustrating, especially in a close game like that when I have it going”, he said of watching from the bench.
It wasn’t all bad.
It was not a great night, for Dirk Nowitzki or the rest of the Dallas Mavericks.
“I’m thrilled with our defense”.
“I thought it was more important for him to get a hard run in the first half, get his rhythm, get his conditioning, and he had it going in the first half”.
Right now, the Mavericks are playing solid enough at both ends of the floor to win games. These are the kind of thing that gets a coach fired, and already Kevin McHale is talking about tweaking his starting backcourt of Lawson and Harden to find a few chemistry somewhere (Patrick Beverley is out with a sprained ankle). “… We got it together in the second and third quarter”.
Ginobili added 17 points for the Spurs while forward Boris Diaw and guard Danny Green hit for 12 and Parker and Tim Duncan scored 10 apiece.
T.J. McConnell had himself another strong game, with a career-high 13 points on 6-9 shooting.
Dwight Powell also has been among those to raise his play, totaling 23 points and 21 rebounds over the last two wins. He’d been back for five games, looked a little rusty but was finding a groove (he had his best game in the win over Cleveland Saturday), and now this.
Even with 17 turnovers in the first half alone, the Sixers had a shot at their first victory.
What wasn’t OK is that no other Mavs player established an offensive rhythm in the first half, which made it hard the Dallas to pull away and win a game against a team that has now dropped 21 contests in a row dating back to last season.
Speaking of third quarters, the Sixers won the third quarter 21-19.
The Sixers then jumped ahead for the first time with 7:50 left in the 4th quarter. That’s something the Sixers really need. In particular, it takes forever to spring Jahlil Okafor for a post-up on the left block. “You definitely want to play more”. His shooting was huge, as Robert Covington (0-4 from three), Nik Stauskas (0-2 from three), and Isaiah Canaan (1-8 from three) all struggled from the perimeter.
Russell Westbrook led the Thunder with 40 points, 12 in the fourth quarter trying to bring Oklahoma City back from an 11-point deficit.
Bulls guard Jimmy Butler blocked Indiana Pacers forward Paul George’s game-winning shot attempt just before time expired as Chicago pulled out a 96-95 victory.
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Derek Bodner covers the 76ers for Philadelphia magazine.
