Mavs run off the road and embarrassed by Sixers, losing 116-74

For most of Friday night, the Dallas Mavericks showed what it’s like to drive the highway with four flat tires.

Needing a GPS system to locate their game, the Mavs promptly ran into a ditch, losing to the Philadelphia 76ers 116-74 before a crowd of 17,642 at Wells Fargo Center.

It was the worst loss of the season for the Mavs, who dropped to 29-39 overall and 1-2 on this four-game road trip, which ends at 11 a.m. Sunday at the Brooklyn Nets. Dallas fell four games behind eighth-place Denver in the race for the final Western Conference playoff berth.

“They outplayed us, they outfought and it was embarrassing,” said Mavs forward Dirk Nowitzki, who scored 10 points. “We just didn’t have it.”

One of the best in the league at making in-game adjustments, not even coach Rick Carlisle had any answers for the haymakers the Sixers were landing.

“This was by far the worst of the year in terms of energy, effort, togetherness, and we all own it,” Carlisle said. “There’s not a lot to say — we got outplayed in every way possible.

“Philadelphia played their brand of basketball, which is a really great brand of basketball. It’s hard, unselfish and relentless, and we just didn’t show up.”

And just think how bad this one would have turned out if not for that seven-minute stretch bridging the first and second quarters when the Sixers were outscored 16-0. That burst gave the Mavs a 27-21 lead.

But from there, the Sixers overwhelmed the Mavs with their shot-making, rebounding, athleticism and hard work. Philadelphia outscored the Mavs in the second (30-17) and third (36-16) quarters in numbing fashion.

“We got down 10 and then made an 11-0 run to get the lead,” Carlisle said. “At that point it looked like we had weathered the storm.

“But all we did is exhale, took a deep breath and then they threw another wave at us and we were back on our heels, and then that’s the way the whole game went.”

The Sixers (25-43) led 109-66 after a 3-point play by former Mavs forward Justin Anderson, who was traded to Philadelphia on Feb. 23. Anderson finished with a career-high-tying 19 points and eight rebounds, while the player he was traded for, Nerlens Noel, had nine points and five rebounds.

“Anderson played with the kind of attitude that we needed to play with tonight,” Carlisle said. “That’s one thing that we will miss about him.

“I didn’t want to trade him, but we needed to do it to get another good player. But he earned this performance tonight and he was great from start to finish.”

The Mavs shot just 34.5 percent from the floor, missed 18 of 23 shots from 3-point range and were outrebounded 55-34.

“There’s not really much we can take from that game,” said Harrison Barnes, who had four points on 2-of-7 shooting. “It falls on us as starters.

“We didn’t start the game off the right away and it just got out of control.”

This story was originally published March 17, 2017 at 10:22 PM with the headline "Mavs run off the road and embarrassed by Sixers, losing 116-74."