Dallas Mavericks meet Philadelphia 76ers for reminder of last year's disaster

The Dallas Mavericks have a two-game road trip coming up, and it starts with a game against the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday afternoon. The last time these two teams played in Philadelphia, the Luka Doncic trade had just been made, and then Nico Harrison would double down on that bad decision by trading Quentin Grimes to the 76ers for Caleb Martin soon after that game.

This is the second night of a back-to-back for the 76ers, who went into Madison Square Garden on Friday night and beat the New York Knicks, which is just the second time this year that the Knicks have lost at home.

Tyrese Maxey was tremendous in that game, as he has been all year, putting up 30 points and 9 assists, while rookie VJ Edgecombe wasn't far behind with 23 points. Joel Embiid didn't play due to an illness and knee injury management, which is par for the course considering he's only played in 11 games this year.

Dec 19, 2025; New York, New York, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey (0) brings the ball up court against the New York Knicks during the third quarter at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

But Maxey's excellence has the 76ers sitting 5th in the Eastern Conference. He's been averaging 31.5 PPG, 7.2 APG, and 4.7 RPG this year, which has helped make up for Embiid being in and out and Paul George just recently returning to the lineup. They also just have a really good backcourt between Maxey, Edgecombe, Quentin Grimes, and Jared McCain. When all four of those guys are healthy and playing, they're good enough to keep them in a lot of games.

Meanwhile, the Mavericks are coming off a win over the Eastern Conference leader, the Detroit Pistons, on Thursday night in what can only be described as a rock fight. It was a poorly officiated game on both sides, but it also saw Ausar Thompson being ejected for walking towards a referee and kind of making contact, and all sorts of missed calls and unhappy players.

Cooper Flagg continued his hot stretch by scoring 23 points on Thursday night. In his last game as an 18-year-old, he sits 37 points away from passing Kobe Bryant for the second-most points scored as an 18-year-old. Bryant had an entire season to get there, while Flagg is entering his 28th game. It's not out of the question that he could tie Bryant, considering he had 42 points on Monday against the Jazz.