Mavs Take Care of Business in Philly, Down 76ers 117-98

The Dallas Mavericks have become a juggernaut on the road.

After spending the last two seasons as one of the worst road teams in the NBA, Rick Carlisle's team has finally cracked the code to winning away from home, improving to 19-9 overall and 11-2 away from the American Airlines Center after defeating the Philadelphia 76ers 117-98 on Friday.

Though they have been without their superstar Luka Doncic for four of their five matchups with the Eastern Conference's elite, the Mavericks have more than been able to salvage the stretch, taking two of the four games (both of which on the road) thanks to their strong depth and bench play.

“If you’re going to win in this building against this kind of team and these kind of athletes, you got to come in and fight for it,” Carlisle said. “And our guys did.”

In lieu of Doncic, Kristaps Porzingis had yet another strong showing as the main cog in the offense, scoring 22 points to go along with a career-high 18 rebounds in 37 minutes of action, while hitting 10-of-19 from the field and blocking three shots.

On the perimeter, Tim Hardaway Jr. continued his resurgent season, scoring a game-high 27 points, while hitting 10-of-21 from the floor and an astonishing 7-of-11 from beyond the arc.

Dallas also had four other players in double figures, including 10 from Maxi Kleber, and 11 points each from Dorian Finney-Smith, Seth Curry, and Jalen Brunson. Brunson also had 11 assists on the evening.

Defensively, the Mavs held Philadelphia to just 42.4 percent from the field and 29.4-percent from three, while forcing 15 turnovers and blocking four shots.

In fact, superstar center Joel Embiid was the only Philadelphia player to make an impact on the floor, pouring in 33 points and grabbing 17 rebounds, while just two other 76ers (Ben Simmons and Josh Richardson) scored in double digits.

The Mavs will round out their Eastern Conference Gauntlet on Sunday when they travel to Toronto to take on the Raptors in an afternoon tipoff. Dallas got the best of the Raptors in their previous matchup, winning 110-102 at the American Airlines Center.

“The fact we’ve had some success on the road should be a great confidence-builder,'' Carlisle said. "At some point, we got to pick it up at home. But right now, we got one road game left before Christmas and that’s where our sights are set. The most important thing is playing hard.”

Add us as a preferred source on Google