Game Preview – Dallas Mavericks @ Philadelphia 76ers

Dallas Mavericks @ Philadelphia 76ers, 07:00pm, Wells Fargo Center

The Dallas Mavericks are coming into the Wells Fargo Center to face the Philadelphia 76ers after notching a huge win against the Houston Rockets this past Saturday in Houston. Not only did Dallas win, but they did so short-handed as Dirk Nowitzki, Wesley Matthews, and Chandler Parsons all sat out. Surprisingly it was Raymond Felton who had a huge game for Dallas. The oft-maligned guard scored 23 points in a starting role while Houston had no answer, as their porous defense kept allowing easy buckets. Let’s put it this way: If Charlie Villanueva was the second leading scorer and with four other players score in double-digits, red flags were flying that you’re doing something wrong on defense.

On the other side are the 76ers, coming off a loss to the San Antonio Spurs. Like in many games this season the Spurs started to pull away in the third quarter; however, unlike many games this season, the Sixers fought back and were even able to pull within four points near the end of the fourth quarter. Ultimately they came up short, but this gives another example on the never-say-die attitude that Philly has had all season long.

Jahlil Okafor played against his childhood idol, Tim Duncan, and impressed in their duel. Big Jah ended the game with 21 points, 12 rebounds, two blocks, and was +2 in +/-, a stat line even Tim would’ve been proud of in his rookie season. Timmy went for 15 & 4 with 5 blocks on his own, and ended the game with +17 during his time on the court.

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There was a conscious effort by Gregg Popovich to slow Jahlil down, but the rookie showed maturity beyond his years (which should be the usual refrain about Jah by now) to pick apart the defense by taking his time and taking advantage of what the defense game him. Perfect examples of this came as the game went on, where was a slight uptick in mid-range shots as the defense kept collapsing on him inside, which he was able to drain.

What To Watch For

There are two 76ers to keep an eye on this game: Nerlens Noel and Nik Stauskas. After missing a pair of games due to injuring his wrists, Nerlens came back against the Spurs with only six points, three rebounds, two assists, and two steals. He was active as usual but did not have that final spring in his step that keeps opposing players looking over their shoulders. After shaking off the rust and some additional rest I believe Nerlens will come back looking right again.

Stauskas had another rough night in San Antonio, ending up with zero points, missing all six of his shots, in his 18 minutes. His confidence is shot in almost all aspects of his game, showing when he misses open threes, floats on the outside and doesn’t make any cuts, and forces drives to the inside. I still believe he still has a lot of potential to show, but he really needs to find his niche in the system to get his confidence back.

This is an issue Brett Brown should address seriously because Nik needs to show some progress in order to enforce his position in the starting lineup. An idea to pump his confidence would be to have Nik start on the bench for games. By doing this, Nik will be working against second units and will have even more freedom to work out his problems on the court. Additionally, as Josh notes in his article linked above, this will help Nik read the game before coming in and Brown has had previous success with Isaiah Canaan coming off the bench. While putting Canaan back in the starting lineup would hurt defensively, a healthy Noel can help cover mistakes while also forcing Jah to move his feet more on defense, which would give him a trial by fire to get better against perimeter players.

Final Take

The Sixers fought hard and almost upset a fully functioning Spurs team on Saturday, even with Nerlens not being 100%. While Dallas had their own impressive win over Houston, but how many times will Raymond Felton and Charlie Villanueva come up with big games as starters? My bet is that there will be a huge regression on each of their parts.

Prediction – Sitting Dirk, Wesley, and Chandler bites Dallas in the glutes as the Sixers pull off their first win of the season.

Next: Okafor Demonstrates Range Against San Antonio

Where to catch the game

• CSNPhilly is broadcasting the game.
• 97.5 has the game on the radio.
• NBA League Pass is available for anyone out of market or anyone who needs to stream.