Sixers-Mavericks takeaways; Tyrese Maxey has to improve vs. blitzes; team lacking confidence

Tyrese Maxey must do better when teams are blitzing him.

The 76ers need to regain their mojo, and Tobias Harris is still dealing with an illness.

Those three things stood out in the Sixers’ 118-102 loss to the Dallas Mavericks Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Mavericks followed the Brooklyn Nets’ game plan when it came to defending Maxey. They kept blitzing the All-Star point guard, leading to his struggles.

Maxey scored 15 points on 6-for-16 shooting, including making just 1-of-5 three-pointers. He had a team-high seven assists, but committed three turnovers and was a game-worst minus-23 in 32 minutes, 51 seconds.

This comes one game after scoring 23 points on 8-for-23 shooting and a minus-15 in Saturday’s loss to the Nets.

Those two performances makes Maxey’s career-high 51 points in Thursday’s road win over the Utah Jazz appear like ages ago.

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“I have to get off the ball faster sometimes,” Maxey said of when team’s are blitzing him. “Like I kind of said, this is kind of like my first time going through this. And we are kind of all learning together.

“I’m just trying to get the ball out of my hands, and let my teammates make some plays and still try to stay aggressive while I’m doing that.”

The Sixers used to be a confident bunch.

But that was when Joel Embiid was healthy and dominating the game like Wilt Chamberlain. But not only were the Sixers missing Embiid, they were also without starters De’Anthony Melton (lumbar spine stress response) and Nico Batum (left hamstring strain) and key reserve Robert Covington (left knee bone bruise).

When the Sixers were healthy, they always believed, no matter the deficit, that they would win a game. It was obvious Monday that their confidence is lagging a little bit.

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“It’s a mindset thing,” Kelly Oubre Jr. said. “We have to stay above water … and just continue to focus on just the next play. Have a short-term memory and just have confidence. Coach came in at the beginning of the year, and said, ‘Expect to win.’ We kind of got off mindset and that phrase a little bit because we are facing adversity and a lot of guys are down.

“But we got to expect to win. I still believe that we can go out and win each and every night.”

Oubre thinks they just have to follow the game plan a little bit more, continue to play attention to detail and execute.

Harris ran out of gas due to the lingering effect of his illness.

The power forward finished with 17 points, six rebounds and six assists. He had 10 points on 5-for-7 shooting with five assists in the first half. He finished with seven points on 3-for-4 shooting after intermission, but didn’t quite have the same impact.

“I’m still recovering and just getting myself back to 100%,” Harris said. “But [I feels like] I can go out there and contribute in some way, shape or form.”

Listening to Harris during the postgame interview, it’s obvious he is still under the weather. But he gutted it out in an attempt to help the Sixers win.