Guess we could nominate the Mavs’ zone?
Sixers Bell Ringer regular season standings:
Joel Embiid: 21
Tyrese Maxey: 11
Seth Curry: 8
Tobias Harris: 4
Andre Drummond: 3
Matisse Thybulle: 2
Furkan Korkmaz: 1
Charles Bassey: 1
In this episode of #SixersAfterDark, there was a 40 minute in-game delay to fix the rim, and then the backboard, the Sixers blew a 16-point lead, the dreaded zone defense had the offense in shambles, and the Sixers couldn’t grab a rebound to save their lives as they fell to the Mavericks 107-98. It’s 1:30 a.m., let’s talk bellringer!
Joel Embiid: 27 points (7-17 FG, 11-14 FT) 11 rebounds, 3 blocks
Joel did his best to salvage this one. After a really good first half, the Sixers absolutely fell apart in the third quarter. Embiid did not take a shot in the fourth quarter until there was just 3:34 remaining. The big fella tapped in a layup, came back down with a pull-up three, and blocked Luka Doncic driving to the basket with the Dallas lead at just four. It seemed that Embiid might be able to steal a win, but the Sixers just ran out of gas. Embiid’s performance was not enough to overcome another poor rebounding performance and an offensive meltdown.
Joel Embiid … not easy to defend pic.twitter.com/3RTtcmCwwd
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) February 5, 2022
Tyrese Maxey: 18 points (7-12 FG, 4-4 FT), 6 assists, 2 rebounds
This wasn’t the best Maxey game, but definitely not a bad outing. Maxey did spark an 11-0 run to start the fourth quarter, but that would ultimately be the last lead Philly would hold. Like Wednesday’s loss to Washington, Maxey again was pretty quiet once Embiid checked back into the game in the fourth quarter. It is frustrating to watch this offense go completely stagnant repeatedly in second halves. Still, Maxey made a couple of nice moves in his hometown.
hit ’em with the Texas two-step. pic.twitter.com/5jZNfx1PLm
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) February 5, 2022
Georges Niang: 13 points, 5-6 FG, 3-4 3PM
Niang was about the only bench production the Sixers got in this one. He too played a role in that early fourth-quarter run, but at the same time didn’t offer much help in shooting the Mavericks out of their zone defense. I’m not putting Tobias in the third spot. He shot 6-8 from the field but took one shot and turned the ball over twice in the fourth quarter. That was it.