Poor second half against Dallas dooms Sixers to fifth straight road loss

DALLAS – The 76ers’ woeful road results continued.

Saturday’s 109-91 loss to the Dallas Mavericks marked their fifth consecutive setback away from the Wells Fargo Center.

The loss dropped the Sixers to 25-15 overall, including 7-13 on the road. The Mavs (24-15) swept the two-game season series against Philly.

The Sixers were without Joel Embiid, their two-time All-Star who had surgery Friday to repair a torn radial collateral ligament in the ring finger of his left hand. The procedure typically requires a month of healing followed by several weeks of physical therapy, sports medicine specialists say.

On this night, the Sixers had a tough time matching Dallas’ intensity in the second half. The Mavs made 8 of 14 three-pointers after intermission.

The game turned in the third quarter, when the Mavs made 47.8% of shots compared to 23.8% by the Sixers. Dallas also had an 18-9 rebounding advantage while outscoring the Sixers, 32-16, in the quarter.

“All throughout the game we had good looks,” Tobias Harris said. "The third quarter, we missed a bunch in a row. They were able to get out, get looks up and, at the same time, get to the free-throw line.

“We made a lot of mental mistakes on the defensive end, especially in the third quarter, that turned for them, really changed the game."

This was one game the Sixers have to be upset about letting it get away from them.

They had 19 more shots than Dallas and committed just four turnovers in the loss.

Harris finished with a game-high 20 points in the loss. Al Horford and Josh Richardson added 16 apiece. Ben Simmons had 11 points, 11 assists and four steals. He was held scoreless after intermission.

Meanwhile, Luka Doncic came close to recording his 12th triple-double of the season. The Mavs point guard finished with 19 points (shooting 4-for-15 from the field), 12 assists and 8 rebounds.

Doncic missed the Mavs’ 117-98 victory over the Sixers at Wells Fargo Center due to a sprained ankle.

On Saturday, Dwight Powell added 19 points and 12 rebounds on Saturday.

The Sixers struggled to make three-pointers on this night, making just 9-of-37 attempts (24.3%).

They started out by missing their first seven threes. Their first make was on a 26-footer by Harris with 2 minutes, 14 seconds left in the first quarter, giving the Sixers a 16-14 advantage.

The Sixers made just 1 of 11 threes (9.1%) in the opening quarter. They made just 10-of-31 overall shots while still taking a 22-20 advantage into the second quarter.

Philly continued its three-point woes in the second quarter, making just 1 of 8. However, they made 12 of 24 overall shots in the quarter.

They built a 45-33 advantage after Harris’ layup with 4:49 left before intermission. However, the Mavs went on a run. Powell’s dunk with 7:13 left in third quarter gave them a 57-55 advantage.

Dallas went on to lead by as many 10 points before taking a seven-point cushion into the fourth quarter.

The Sixers pulled within four points, 75-71, on Richardson’s three-pointer. But former Sixer Boban Marjanovic responded with a personal 6-0 run to put the Mavs up, 81-71, with 9:11 to play. Maxi Kleber’s three-pointer at the 4:15 mark gave Dallas a 99-84 advantage. They were by 21 with 2:34 to play.

Before the game, Simmons and Jonah Bolden stood alongside Mavs player Ryan Broekhoff, who addressed the crowd about the bush fires that have ravaged over 12 million acres in the trio’s home country of Australia. Broekhoff asked the fans if they could make donations to the relief and recovery efforts.

Simmons, Bolden, and Broekhoff, along with other six other Australian NBA players have combined to contribute $750,000 to the efforts.