Mavs’ Jason Kidd Notes Embiid’s Dominance After Beating Sixers

The Philadelphia 76ers had a tough night in Dallas on Thursday. As they faced one of the NBA’s newest star duos of Luka Doncic and the former Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving for the first time, the Sixers had their hands full defensively.

For Dallas, they were zeroed in on Joel Embiid defensively, as he’s established himself as one of the NBA’s most dominant scorers these days.

“In this league right now, everybody's scoring,” said Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd after Thursday’s game. “You're talking about one of the best teams in Philly.”

Entering Thursday’s game, the Sixers held a record of 40-21. They were the third seed in the Eastern Conference, facing the Western Conference’s sixth seed in the Mavs.

Both teams had their hands full defensively as an offensive shootout ensued. In the first half, Dallas received significant production from Doncic and Irving, who combined for 45 points.

Meanwhile, the star duo of James Harden and Joel Embiid were behind them with 36 points combined.

Harden didn’t score as much in the second half, but Embiid got his. In 19 minutes, the big man drained 50 percent of his shots from the field. He finished the second half with 18 points, totaling a team-high of 35 points in 35 minutes.

In Kidd’s eyes, that just showed how dominant the Sixers center can be, considering he thought Dallas played a solid game against Embiid defensively.

“I thought again, we did our best with Embiid,” Kidd finished. “He still ended up with 35. That's how good he is. And so this is a big win for us after those last two. But again, we still have a long ways to go.”

Embiid’s scoring night, mixed with help from Harden in the first half and Tyrese Maxey in the second half, wasn’t enough to combat the sharpshooting clinic from Irving and Doncic that was on display. As the two stars produced 82 of the Mavericks’ 133 points, they outscored the Sixers by seven points.

Now, Embiid and the Sixers will look to pick things up in their Saturday night matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.