The Philadelphia 76ers and the Dallas Mavericks will meet Tuesday night in Orlando, Florida. Tuesday night’s matchup will wrap up the Sixers’ three-game exhibition schedule before they resume the 2019-2020 regular season with a matchup against the Indiana Pacers on August 1.
During the previous two games, the key players of the Sixers had an impressive performance. In the first half of the first game against the Memphis Grizzlies, the Sixers starters gained a 26-point lead. Although the backups allowed Memphis to start backing up a bit towards the end, the 76ers emerged victorious from the first matchup.
The second scrimmage against the Oklahoma City Thunder had a similar result in the first half as the Sixers gained an 11-point lead, even without starting center Joel Embiid. However, once again, there was a tendency to allow the opponent to back off. Except for this time, the Sixers’ bench allowed the game to be reduced to cable before losing 102-97.
Tuesday’s matchup against Dallas could end up being the Sixers’ toughest challenge yet, as the Mavericks managed to defeat Philly twice during the regular season. Being it’s the final scrimmage game before significant fighting resumes, Sixers head coach Brett Brown could leave his key players for a while longer to make sure they’re in top shape before the official restart it’s from the season.
Here, you can follow live updates and observations before and during the game, starting with pre-game notes from Brett Brown’s pre-game press conference.
Game details
Philadelphia 76ers vs. Dallas Mavericks
Time: 8:30 pm EST.
Location: Orlando Florida
Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia, NBA TV
Pregame reading
Being late to Disney …
Brett Brown’s pre-game press conference scheduled for 6:45 PM EST. He’s lagging a bit behind as the team’s bus at Disney hasn’t made it to the facility where scrimmage is playing tonight. It appears that transportation services are rusty as they enter their practice reps this week as well. We can’t blame them, it’s been a while.
In-game injury updates
Joel Embiid (right calf pain) is OUT for the Sixers on Tuesday
Glenn Robinson III (hip pointer) is OUT for the Sixers on Tuesday
Raul Neto (lower back tightness) is OUT for the Sixers on Tuesday
[More on the three injuries here…]
Brett Brown’s Pregame Notes
- Brown opens his press conference with high praise for Sixers starting guard Josh Richardson. “Jo, Ben, Tobias and Al Horford somehow get most of [attention]”Brown said.” J-Rich, he is so stable. I think J-Rich is swept under the rug when it comes to answering the question. “
- Is chemistry a concern? To his surprise, Brown doesn’t see it. While he is aware of Tobias Harris ‘remarks about the Sixers’ lack of chemistry throughout the year and refuses to completely discredit that notion, Brown does not believe there is a serious problem. However, he seems to believe that those problems can be fixed in Orlando as his list gets closer by doing off-court activities.
- On Tuesday night, Brown focused on the Sixers’ defense, which he believes has been “surprisingly elite” during the first two practice games. Against Dallas, he anticipates “a thousand and three” (a little exaggerated but you understand). “The three-point shot tonight is what stands out the most,” Brown said.
The Sixers’ five initials
PG: Shake Milton
SG: Josh Richardson
SF: Tobias Harris
PF: Ben Simmons
C: Al Horford
Do 76ers fans make their Orlando debut?
With no fans allowed in the Orlando stands, the NBA is devising an innovative way to attract fans to the virtual stands. We haven’t seen him at all during the first two practice games, but you can see some faces on the screens tonight. I wonder if the NBA listened to Ben Simmons and will allow boos to emerge if necessary.
And we have a sloppy start
Since the Sixers had not played basketball in the past few months, they were expected to come out on the court looking rusty. That was evident in the first practice game, but they looked a little better during the second practice game.
However, they look remarkably rusty to start the third and final scrimmage as they are shooting just 3 of 14 from the field. Dallas doesn’t look as strong on the offensive side of the ball, either tonight. It has been a sloppy game so far.
Novel checks at Pelle
With Embiid out on Sunday, Brett Brown chose to go with Norvel Pelle as the incoming reserve center for Horford. After looking solid through the first two games, Pelle appears first as Horford’s backup in the first quarter. At this point, it’s clear that the rookie has an advantage over great veteran Kyle O’Quinn.
This is ugly …
The Sixers are shooting just 3-for-20 with just over two minutes to go in the first quarter. Furkan Korkmaz launched an ugly air ball, followed by a foul for three. Then Shake Milton threw a three too and was unable to hit the edge. It’s definitely not the Sixers’ night in the shooting department.
Incoming Trey Burke’s revenge game?
END OF THE FIRST QUARTER. MAVERICKS LEAD SIXERS 24-13.
Matisse Thybulle is the real defense business
Many of us have sounded like a broken record in this mini preseason, but Sixers rookie Matisse Thybulle remains a defense problem in the best way for Philly. The first-round team certainly didn’t miss a defensive step during the hiatus, as its stifling defense has been on display these past three practice games. You should have no problem getting up on the floor.
Ben Simmons is getting frustrated
Simmons doesn’t look as offensive as he did during the first two practice games. So far he’s only got 1 out of 7 from the field (no he hasn’t tried any threesome either). The third-year forward is visibly frustrated tonight with some calls and no calls from the umpires. Fortunately, Tobias Harris is moving forward for the Sixers.
Joel Embiid expected to play on Saturday?
During the broadcast of Sixers vs. Mavericks, NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Marc Zumoff mentioned that Joel Embiid, who is out with calf pain, is “expected” to play in Saturday’s game against the Pacers. At the moment, Embiid appears on the daily list. Assuming he will play on Saturday is far from overdone considering he practiced on Monday.
END OF THE SECOND QUARTER. MAVERICKS LEAD SIXERS 48-39.
Bricks on bricks
That first half was ugly for the Sixers. During the last two practice games, they entered halftime with a notable advantage. Now, they are lagging behind as the team had a tough offense in the first two quarters against the Mavericks.
Over the course of two quarters, the Sixers have drained just 26 percent of their field shots (15-57). Tobias Harris got off to a slow start, but eventually began to improve and became the most productive player on the field for the Sixers. Brett Brown will surely not be satisfied with what he witnessed, so it will be interesting to see if he keeps the headlines in the second half or chooses to remain on the bench until Saturday.
Ben Simmons’ night is probably over
As mentioned earlier, I was curious to see if Brown was going to take out some of his key headlines to avoid further injury in a pointless game. Sixers rookie Matisse Thybulle started with Simmons in the second half, indicating that the third-year forward was likely finished by night. Tobias Harris, Josh Richardson, Al Horford and Shake Milton remain in the game.
The Sixers took the lead
Well, would you look at it? The Philadelphia 76ers managed to catch up and get ahead of the Mavericks as Tobias Harris helped his team climb again with 20 points. Dallas has not collapsed, but the Sixers are making this game much more interesting than it was in the first half.
Tobias Harris has shown enough
In case you’re wondering, Ben Simmons is fine.
After registering for 19 minutes in the first half, Ben Simmons was not in the Sixers’ lineup to start the second half. I was under the assumption that Brett Brown was playing it safe with Simmons, and that’s the case. Ben Simmons is not dealing with any setbacks – the Sixers are only being cautious.
END OF THE 3rd QUARTER. SIXERS LEAD MAVERICKS 80-74.
What quarter for philadelphia
After shooting terribly from the field in the first half, Tobias Harris and Al Horford brought the Sixers back to life. Harris’ night is over as Brett Brown has clearly seen enough of him. The top veteran logged under 30 minutes and scored 10 of his 20 field goal attempts for 28 total points.
Horford, meanwhile, collected 22 minutes as the Sixers’ starting center tonight. He totaled for 14 minutes after taking down six of his 15 shots from the field.
That’s it for beginners
As this is the last scrimmage game of the summer, Brett Brown appears to be moving forward to keep key starters and key players off the floor to avoid injury. At this point, only the regulars on the floor appear to be Matisse Thybulle and Furkan Korkmaz.
Meanwhile, players like Alec Burks, Mike Scott and Kyle O’Quinn are making the most of these minutes before the regular season returns. We’ll see if these fourth quarter minutes can help them get back a few minutes in planting games. I think Alec Burks can benefit more from these last few minutes.
END OF THE FOURTH QUARTER. THE GAME IS TIED 103-103
We have extra basketball time
Yes, the NBA wants the Sixers and Mavericks to play overtime in a pointless scrimmage game in July.
END OF EXTRA TIME. MAVERICKS DEFEATS SIXERS 118-115.
See you Saturday!
The Sixers were unable to complete the comeback, but at least that loss won’t count for anything. While it was a difficult start for Philly’s key rotation, boys like Tobias Harris, Al Horford, Mike Scott and Kyle O’Quinn had a promising performance during the second half. The return was enough to put the game into overtime. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for the Sixers to leave the scrimmage season with a win.
Finally, the Sixers’ 2019-2020 NBA season will officially restart this Saturday, August 1, with a 7 PM EST. notice against the Indiana Pacers. Thank you for following the three game scrimmage schedule. See you Saturday!
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_
