Mavericks storm past Sixers after delay to replace basket on night Joel Embiid becomes NBA’s scoring leader | Analysis

DALLAS — What a trip.

The 76ers’ flight to D-town was delayed 4½ hours Thursday because of a snow and ice storm in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. But that was nothing.

Their matchup Friday night against the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center was delayed 46 minutes while a rim and backboard were worked on and eventually replaced. The Sixers and Mavericks participated in a five-minute warmup before resuming play at 11:15 p.m. Philadelphia time.

The Sixers (31-21) shrugged off the flight delay and dealt with Basketgate only to lose, 107-98.

“Dallas hasn’t been too nice to us,” Georges Niang said. “It’s snowing and we had to wait 45 minutes to play a game [that started] at 9 o’clock [Dallas time].”

Luka Doncic had 33 points, 15 assists, and 13 rebounds for the Mavs (30-23). It was his ninth triple-double of the season and 45th of his career.

The three-time All-Star point guard started to take over the game late in the second quarter. Then he really found a groove in the third quarter, accounting for 65.6% of his team’s 32 points. Doncic tallied 11 points and four assists in the quarter with 10 other points created from his assists. He ended up with 18 points, eight assists and eight rebounds in the second half.

“Luka was a big struggle for us,” Seth Curry said.

In addition to struggling to stop him, the Sixers struggled against the Mavs’ zone defense after intermission.

“I think tonight, in the zone, it threw us off guard,” Niang said. “Even me driving into areas I shouldn’t have been driving into, turning the ball over. There was ... maybe a lack of sense of urgency with them playing the zone and slowing down our pace, and it was kind of deflating.

“But I think moving forward, we’re definitely going to be better especially attacking the zone.”

Outscoring the Sixers by 17 points in the third (32-15), the Mavs had the momentum heading into the fourth quarter. The Sixers battled back and played through four lead changes in the fourth. However, the Mavericks broke the game open with a 21-9 run.

“We’ve got to figure some things out,” Curry said. “There were a few times we struggled against a zone.”

Joel Emibiid finished with 27 points and 13 rebounds to post his 23rd double-double of the season. Tyrese Maxey, a product of South Garland High School outside of Dallas, finished with 18 and six assists in his homecoming. Embiid also became the league’s scoring leader at 29.05 points per game.

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But Embiid’s taking over the scoring lead was expected.

Embiid came into Friday’s game second in scoring at 29.07 points per game. Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant is the league’s leading scorer at 29.25. Durant, however, missed the Nets’ 125-102 loss to the Utah Jazz on Friday. As a result, Durant has played in only 36 of the Nets’ 52 games for 69.2%. Players have to participate in at least 70% of their team’s games for their statistics to count in the league leaders.

“I guess it’s great,” Embiid said of being the scoring leader. “But it really is what I’m asked to do. I’m asked to score a lot. Tonight, I didn’t score enough. I wasn’t aggressive. In that second half, the ball didn’t find me. [The Mavs] really made sure to not let the ball find me.

“So I got to find ways to be aggressive and put myself in positions to contribute whether it’s scoring or making plays for my teammates.”

Before the game, Mavs coach Jason Kidd was asked what challenges Embiid presents.

“We tried the ice storm and that didn’t work,” he joked.

Sixers coach Doc Rivers talked about the lengthy flight delay.

“We were alerted early enough so guys weren’t sitting on the plane,” Rivers said. “So we took off. We didn’t go to Love Field. We went to the other [airport] and took some time to get in. But other than that, the bus ride was slow. But just another long road trip.”

Kidd noted before the game that the Mavs would have to give Embiid different looks and hope he doesn’t have a “big, big night.”

There was an equipment stoppage with 6 minutes, 3 seconds remaining in the first quarter to check the basket near the Mavericks’ bench. The basket was off balance, and the initial belief was that it was going to be an easy fix. So former Sixers center Boban Marjanovic, who stands 7-foot-3, reached up and tried to shake the rim back in place.

But that didn’t work.

So an arena equipment maintenance employee tried to fix it. That didn’t work, either. That’s when it was determined that the basket had to be replaced.

Knowing it would take a while, Embiid went to the Sixers locker room while several of the Mavs put on their warmups. Perhaps all the players from both teams should have followed Embiid’s lead as they waited 46 minutes for the game to resume.

Some did, and got on the exercise bike to keep warm. So what did Embiid do in the locker room?

“Nothing,” he said. “I was just sleeping. It’s ridiculous that we had to wait that long and that that happened.

“But like I said, it’s not an excuse [for the loss]. We had a chance to win this game tonight. And we just didn’t take advantage of it.”

It appeared the basket was actually damaged at the 7:15 mark.

That’s when Dallas center Dwight Powell knocked the backboard out of whack by hanging on the rim during an expected alley-oop attempt. The attempt never happened because Embiid stole Dorian Finney-Smith’s pass to Powell.

The teams, however, played on until Embiid was fouled by Marquese Chriss 1:12 later. After the basket was looked at, replaced, and players warmed up, Embiid split a pair of foul shots to give the Sixers a 20-17 lead.

His squad ended up leading, 33-24, after a first quarter that lasted 72 minutes.

Seth Curry returned to action after missing Wednesday night’s game with back spasms.

The Sixers shooting guard went through most of Friday morning’s shootaround, but was not cleared to play until just before tipoff.

The game was a homecoming of sorts for the eighth-year veteran, whom the Sixers acquired in a trade from Dallas on Nov. 18, 2020.

Friday marked the 15th straight game that Shake Milton has missed with a back contusion. Rivers said there’s no timetable for his return. Milton was hurt when he was inadvertently kicked in the back by teammate Andre Drummond while falling to the court against the Houston Rockets on Jan. 3.

Milton recently was cleared to run. However, the team said he has yet to do basketball-related workouts. Without the fourth-year veteran, the Sixers don’t have a backup point guard. And he’s more of a combo guard than a point guard.

“So we’ve been makeshift the entire season that way,” Rivers said. “You know, using Seth at times, [Furkan Korkmaz] at times ...The other night, we didn’t have any of them on the floor. And that stretch hurt us a little bit.

“So that’s who we are.”

Korkmaz missed his third consecutive game Friday night with left knee soreness.