Three reasons the Sixers beat the Dallas Mavericks
Ben Simmons was a dominant factor on both ends of the court.
The 76ers maintained their half-game lead over the Brooklyn Nets in the Eastern Conference with Thursday’s 111-97 home win over the Dallas Mavericks.
Now 22-11, the Sixers won their second in a row and fourth out of five. Here are three reasons why they won.
Ben’s two-way play
Ben Simmons was a force on both ends of the court. He had the main responsibility of guarding Luka Doncic. Dallas likes to set high picks around the top of the key for Doncic and Simmons did a great job all evening fighting off the picks and not losing Doncic as he went to the basket.
Doncic committed a game-high seven turnovers. Another interesting statistic is that Doncic only attempted 13 shots, his third lowest total of the season.
Simmons didn’t save all his top defensive plays for Doncic. On this play he comes from behind to steal the ball from Willie Cauley-Stein and feed Joel Embiid for the jam.
» READ MORE: Ben Simmons’ defense, Joel Embiid’s 23 points lead Sixers to 111-97 win over Dallas Mavericks
On offense, Simmons continued to have success driving to the basket. He is finishing at the rim much better than he was earlier this season. Simmons was 6 for 11 from the field, scoring on four dunks, including three on drives, a driving reverse layup and a driving finger roll. (Here is a look at his six field goals).
On this play, Simmons spun by Doncic and then had a strong finish while drawing the foul.
In addition to scoring 15 points, Simmons had seven assists and zero turnovers, while earning a plus-15 rating. During this month, Simmons has looked much more confident driving to the basket.
Dwight off the bench
With Joel Embiid having a rough shooting night (5 for 20), Dwight Howard not only provided his usual energy off the bench, but was equally efficient offense and defense. Howard scored 14 points, hitting 6 of 7 from the field, most around the basket. He also contributed eight rebounds in 16 minutes, 13 seconds and was a factor on the defensive end.
Here is one of Howard’s three blocks, this one coming against Dwight Powell that led to a Simmons dunk at the other end.
Howard’s 14 points and three blocked shots tied season highs.
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Turnovers both ways
The Sixers were able to beat Toronto on Tuesday, 109-102 despite the fact that they committed 19 turnovers leading to 23 Raptors points.
Against Dallas it was a much different story. The Sixers only committed eight turnovers, leading to 10 points. The starters combined for just one turnover, by Seth Curry.
Meanwhile Dallas, which entered the game averaging just 12 turnovers, committed 22, leading to 22 Sixers points.