Mavs Stumble In Philly - 92-81

Thaddeus Young (21), and the rest of the 76ers bench, put a hurting on the Mavericks.(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

How do you lose to a 14-28 team that dwells in the basement of the weaker Eastern Conference?

• You shoot 39.5 percent against a Philly team that is 25th in the NBA in field goal percentage defense, allowing an average of 47.1 percent shooting on a nightly basis.
• Score 81 points against a team that allows over 100 points a game.
• Get out-rebounded 49-42 by a 76ers team that gets out-rebounded by an average of 3.7 a night.
• Jack-up 15 threes while avoiding contact with the painted area, on both ends. Dallas was outscored 52-38 in the paint.
• Allow Philly to score 30 points in the second quarter on 12-22 shooting (55 percent).
• Follow-up bad defensive quarter with horrendous 12 point-third quarter. The Mavericks missed 10 of the 16 shots they attempted in the third.
  

"We had lapses as the wrong time," said Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle. "They're a talented team, certainly better than their record."

What does that make Dallas, "certainly" worse than their 28-15 record?

76ers Bench Is Amazing

Recently benched Thaddeus Young had a game-high 22 points on 9-12 shooting (75 percent), leading three 76ers bench players who scored in double figures.

"That was just me going on there and playing my game and not worrying about everything else," said Young, who had the most points in a game in over a month (12/14 - 26 points).

Forget bench vs bench production, Philadelphia's bench outscored the Mavericks starters 56-47.

Mavericks Big-Three All Go Cold

Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry and Josh Howard were a combined 11-38 (30 percent) from the field and 1-9 from behind the arc.

The most unnerving part, to me, about the game was that Nowitzki was 4-13 from the field in 40 minutes of game action. This is OK because, obviously, your team leader and best scorer is going to continue to try to make things happen.

But...

Josh Howard played 14 fewer minutes and still took the same amount of shots as Dirk, making one more than Nowitzki (5-13). I don't know if J-Ho was auditioning for his next team, but continuously missing jumpers isn't raising his value.

Whats Next:

Dallas concludes their five-game road trip, Sunday at noon, against the New York Knicks. The Knicks aren't very good, with a 17-25 record and allow an average of 102.4 points a game.

New York has lost three of their last four games and are 10-12 at home but, with this Mavericks' team, no win is guaranteed - no matter how bad the opponent is.

Tip-off is at noon, and can be seen locally on Fox Sports Southwest.

News and Notes:

• Dallas' record is now 2-6 when Dirk Nowitzki scores fewer than 20 points in a game. The Mavericks need JET and J-Ho to step up when their MVP has an off night, but that just hasn't happened this season.
• Josh Howard is 17-60 (28 percent) from the field in his last five games. Howard's total field goal percentage has dropped to 38 percent for the season.
  
• Jason Terry left Friday's game in the third quarter, with an apparent knee injury, but it didn't appear to be serious.
  
• Shawn Marion left briefly in the second quarter with a laceration on his right hand, he returned later after recieving three stiches. The most efficient Maverick, Marion scored 12 points on 5-9 shooting, while chipping in seven boards and two steals.

(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)