December 20, 2025
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
Did Tyrese Maxey and the Sixers have enough to sweep their road/home back-to-back?
PHILADELPHIA – Could it be... a winning streak?
Twenty-four hours after knocking off the NBA Cup champion New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden in dramatic fashion, the Sixers returned home, and without Joel Embiid or Paul George found a way to defeat a Dallas Mavericks team with considerably more size at every possession. All season long the Sixers have struggled to build on their impressive victories, but now there is some serious momentum here – with one of the worst teams in the NBA coming to town on Tuesday.
VJ Edgecombe got the Sixers started with a 14-point first quarter that included a burst of nine points on three possessions in about 45 seconds. Tyrese Maxey took over from there, with a few other Sixers providing just enough offensive juice to get by. The Sixers withstood another tough third quarter and played 12 outstanding minutes when it mattered the most, dominating the Mavericks en route to a win.
Observations from the Sixers' 121-114 victory:
A brutal third quarter put the Sixers in a hole entering the fourth; Dallas won the first 12 minutes out of halftime 35-23. But just as the Sixers have struggled in third quarters all season long, they have been one of the NBA's elite teams in fourth quarters. And so they went on a torrid run as soon as the final frame began, pummeling Dallas 21-7 in the first five minutes and 14 seconds to storm ahead.
JARED TO VJ ON REPEAT. pic.twitter.com/GEjXIO2Vjb
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) December 21, 2025
The run started with a Jared McCain triple, which was followed by one from Adem Bona. Jabari Walker threw down a dunk on the offensive glass, and the dynamic backcourt duo of Maxey and Edgecombe continued to make brilliant plays on both ends. An unconventional lineup – those five players had yet to share the floor all season – played with tremendous cohesion and confidence, steamrolling a Dallas team that had created significant momentum.
Dallas made one final push in the final minutes, but a Sixers lineup that played the final 13-plus minutes of the game was able to finish the job and secure a victory.
Before Saturday's game tipped off, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse spent much of his media availability talking about the enormity of the entire Dallas rotation. It is for good reason.
Starting point guard Ryan Nembhard is undersized, but just about everyone else the Mavericks play has above-average positional size or better. Naji Marshall, nominally the starting shooting guard for Dallas, stands at 6-foot-6 and 220 pounds. Cooper Flagg and P.J. Washington, two forceful wings with tremendous size, fill the forward spots in front of 10-time All-Star Anthony Davis. Daniel Gafford and Klay Thompson are their key reserves. The size is unrelenting and spans the entire positional spectrum.
That was a particularly dangerous proposition against a Sixers team that was without not just George, but also Kelly Oubre Jr. and Trendon Watford. The only true "forwards" Nurse even had available on Saturday were Dominick Barlow, Jabari Walker and Justin Edwards. Barlow remained in the starting power forward spot, but instead of slotting Edwards into the starting lineup to match up with one of Dallas' bruising wings, Nurse went small, starting Quentin Grimes alongside Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe. It is not as if Nurse had the ammunition to truly load up on size anyways, so he opted to lean into his team's other strengths, even if it meant being particularly small against a team that likes to bring as much physicality as it can.
On the second night of a back-to-back, coming off an emotional road win, the undermanned and undersized Sixers clearly played with an understanding of the sort of intensity they would need to bring to hang around. Their effort and physicality went up a notch, and the floor spacing provided by the three-guard looks netted them terrific returns on the offensive end of the floor (Maxey and Edgecombe both having individual scoring heaters did not hurt, either).
VJ EDGECOMBE TAKING OVER! 9 POINTS IN 45 SECONDS. pic.twitter.com/8gg9IlHwla
— Liberty Ballers (@Liberty_Ballers) December 21, 2025
Dallas was able to finally tap into its physical advantages in the third quarter, immediately staging a 10-0 run to take the lead and then playing from in front through the remainder of the frame. It was inevitable that the Mavericks would eventually be able to assert their will on the game in that respect.
Some additional notes:
• Barlow scored a season-high 16 points... in the first half. Barlow has become tremendous at reading defenses with the ball in his hands and deciding accordingly whether to hand the ball off or turn and drive to the basket. Dallas left driving lanes open for him early and often, and the 22-year-old did not hesitate to punch those gaps with speed. He also had an athletic early swat, which he followed up with a pair of steals. He added a corner triple in the second half; it was his first make from long range in nearly two weeks. Barlow continues to go above and beyond, not just for a player on a two-way contract, but for any young player fitting into a team trying to compete.
⏮️ reverse ⏮️ pic.twitter.com/8qsV70gxoH
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) December 21, 2025
• Grimes is struggling right now. Nurse said after Friday's game that the 25-year-old guard was likely the only member of that night's rotation to not play particularly well, and that carried over to his start on Saturday. Some of Grimes' recent struggles can be attributed to missing shots that oftentimes go in for one of the best shooters on the team, but he also appears somewhat out of sorts as a driver. Grimes is never completely under control anyways, but slowing down a bit could help him.
• Bona had a brutal first half in New York, then bounced back in a major way after halftime to help swing the game into a Sixers victory. He rode that high into this game, giving the Sixers high-quality stints in both halves and even knocking down that important, momentum-shifting corner triple in the fourth quarter:
2024 draft class knocking down threes !!! pic.twitter.com/gpSq49Snaa
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) December 21, 2025
Up next: The Sixers will be back in action on Tuesday night when they play host to the Brooklyn Nets.
