What we learned from the Mavericks 115-112 win over the 76ers

The Mavericks once again started out the game fast out of the blocks against the 76ers in China. Dallas hit a barrage of threes. This included Doncic hitting on his first three shots from deep in a row while Philadelphia started 0-9 from deep.

Dallas’ starters played around 20 minutes and overall looked fairly impressive. JJ Barea, Devin Harris, and Maxi Kleber also saw around 20 minutes of playing time where Kleber once again looked solid.

For the final eight and a half minutes the Mavericks played a lineup of Brunson, Macon, Ding, Spalding, and Kostas. That lineup would close out the game and win it for the Mavericks by a score of 115-112.

About halfway through the first quarter Doncic came up limping but stayed in the game and it ended up being nothing. Dennis Smith Jr. hit several step back jumpers and overall looked really solid against one of the better teams in the NBA. Take a look at this beautiful assist on the Dwight Powell dunk.

Markelle Fultz fouled out in only 19 minutes of play and the 20 Fultz stans in the MMB mentions fell silent. Joel Embiid went 0-6 from deep and all of those looks were fairly uncontested. He still feasted inside and got 31 points but for a couple of possessions Luka Doncic got switched onto him and Embiid missed a dunk and then was denied an entry pass with the help of Doncic.

Just a quick side note, but it needs to be mentioned: these are the worst announcers I’ve ever heard call an NBA game. They were terrible in Friday’s game and they didn’t improve in this game. Ryan Spalding isn’t a person, and neither is Maxi Klaybore.

This was the last game the Mavericks will play in China. Dallas has one more preseason game on Friday at the American Airlines Center against the Charlotte Hornets.

Finally we have visual proof of Luka Doncic performing well against a good NBA team. No longer can they say “it’s just the Beijing Ducks,” or “it’s just the euro league.” Luka Doncic played against a good NBA team with good perimeter defenders and looked every bit like the premier rookie we thought he’d be.