Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Posted: 11:58 p.m.
By Dei Lynam
CSNPhilly.com
The Sixers are a much improved team that is playing consistent basketball and they have earned, rightfully so, the respect of others around the league as a formidable opponent every night.
Dallas feels like a team spending longer than anticipated to get back to what it rightfully believes is a place they belongthe NBA Finals. It is where the Mavericks were five years ago when they lost to the Miami Heat in six games after winning the first two.
The point is, while the hype setting up this 60th game of the Sixers season was about the similarities between the two teamshot streaks and strong benchesthe differences may not have been stated quite strong enough. The Mavericks have leadership, star power and the best sixth man in the NBA, all on display as Jason Kidd, Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry were major reasons the Sixers were dealt a 101-93 defeat.
Kidd is the Mavs general, picking up his 107th career triple-double with his 13 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds.
Nowitzki is a former MVP of the league and when he comes to Philadelphia he always shows off just how he put that accolade on his resume. He gets his numbers in the flow of the game, but he wears you out in the process.
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When he sees shots it is like you arent even there because he is so tall and he shoots fade-away jumpers, Thaddeus Young said. It is kind of hard to defend him at all times because you have to be conscious of the guys who set screens for him because he and Jason Terry, they play great together because they have been playing for years together. They definitely know how to work with each other and get each other open shots.
Nowitzki scored his 22 points, attempting 15 shots, his last the heartbreaker bank-shot just moments after Jodie Meeks had the crowd on its feet after his fourth made three. Meeks shot closed the Sixers deficit to 92-91 with 1:40 to play.
Dallas superstar allowed the hometowns enjoyment to last all of 21 seconds.
They are such a hard team to guard, Doug Collins said. Dirk makes the most unconscionable shots. Big, big, big-time player and I think his record is 42-9 on the season when he plays, so they have won over 80 percent of the games with him playing.
Still, Nowitzki was the smaller fraction that impacted the Sixers negatively Tuesday.
The Sixers, who are now 30-30, have had their bench as a mainstay for the team all season, but Terry is a notch above. Terry won the Sixth Man of the Year award two seasons ago and through three quarters his 24 points equaled the productivity of all of the Sixers reserves.
Jason Terry was fantastic tonight, Collins said.
Terry averages six points in the fourth quarter, which is on the high side in the NBA. His breakaway slam off a botched Jrue Holiday baseline drive made for his six in the quarter and 30 on the night. The Mavs led by five with less than a minute to play.
Over the course of the night, the few times the Sixers were able to slow Terry down was when Andre Iguodala was on him.
I played two-on-two against him a few times at Arizona. He probably wont remember, Iguodala joked. He didnt give me anything, but we played two-on-two. He showed me some basketball moves, so I learned a little bit from him. I watched him a lot and was able to give him some problems with my length.
The Sixers were not helped by the fact that their leading supporting actor, Lou Williams, couldnt buy a basket. He made his first, a three-point attempt, and then missed seven straight.
Williams will be the first to admit when he hits his first shot and its from long range he often falls in love with the jumper, which he did on this night.
The Sixers were led in scoring by Iguodala, who finished with 15. He also had two incredible fourth-quarter steals that the Sixers were unable to convert. Against a 44-16 team missed opportunities like that and seven missed free throws in the fourth quarter is a formula for coming up short.
We were still fighting, Iguodala said of his fourth-quarter forced turnovers. The game was still in reach, so you have to flush that out and continue playing. We still had an opportunity to get stops and convert off those.
But the Sixers effort wouldnt be enough to contain the Mavs on this night.
We just keep coming, wave after wave, Kidd said.
E-mail Dei Lynam at dlynam@comcastsportsnet.com
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