Sixers Don’t Put the “D” in Dallas

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

Dallas 129, Philadelphia 103 – Box Score

Sunday night was a historic occasion in Dallas. Dirk Nowitzki hit 5 of 9 threes to finish with 18 points, in the process passing the 29k point plateau for his career. Nowitzki is now the 6th player in NBA history to accomplish that feat; congratulations to the future hall-of-famer.

Honestly though, if Nowitzki had the chance to face the particular Sixers defense from Sunday every night, he might be at 39k points by now. Nerlens Noel was mired in foul trouble all game, limited to only 18 minutes of action. It wasn’t a case of bogus calls either; Noel was making some really poor defensive decisions, falling for pump fakes, etc.

Without Noel out there providing his usual rim protection, fouling was the fall-back method for the Sixers. Philadelphia’s guards didn’t help matters by playing traffic cone defense and letting the likes of Deron Williams, Ray Felton, and J.J. Barea (a murderer’s row if ever there was one) consistently maneuver into the lane. The Mavericks finished the game shooting an outstanding 34-36 from the free throw line.

For a while, the lack of defense didn’t matter thanks to the scoring prowess of Jahlil Okafor. Big Jah was cookin’ like never before following tip-off, scoring 18 points in the first quarter alone. Zaza Pachulia is going to have to lay down on a therapist’s couch to get over the way Okafor pushed him around all evening.

The Sixers led 43-35 midway through the second quarter, but the Mavericks went on an 11-0 run, part of a larger 31-11 surge to end the half. There was no looking back from there for Dallas. They began throwing constant double teams at Okafor, who struggled a bit with them, turning the ball over 5 times. He was still the bright spot for the Sixers though, finishing with a career-high 31 points on 12-19 shooting.

In the end, the 26-point margin was Dallas’s largest victory of the year, a service the Sixers have provided for their opponents far too often this season. Fans have to take solace that hopefully even in the midst of an overall awful team performance, nights like this one from Okafor are a sign of better things to come.