The Dallas Mavericks (11-18) fell apart in the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers (16-11) on Saturday, 121-114, at XFinity Mobile Arena. The Mavericks scored just 17 points in the fourth quarter,
when they shot 7-of-23 (30.4%) from the field after taking a six-point lead into the final frame. The backcourt combo of Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe combined to score 64 points on eight made 3-pointers, and 20 of those 64 points came in the pivotal fourth quarter.
The fourth-quarter scoring flurry was just too much for the Mavs to handle, after coming into the game winners of six of the team’s last eight games. Now the Mavericks face a stretch where eight of their next 11 games (including Saturday’s loss) will come on the road. Nut-cuttin’ time is a-coming.
Cooper Flagg and Anthony Davis each scored 24 points to lead the Mavs in the loss, but Dallas turned the ball over 18 times in the loss. And those two were free, so here are seven more stats that tell the tale of the Mavs’ latest loss in Philadelphia.
7: First-quarter Mavericks turnovers
After falling down 5-0 in the game’s opening minutes, the Mavericks responded with an early 13-3 run to force 76ers head coach Nick Nurse into the game’s first timeout. That’s when turnovers reared their ugly head for Dallas, as they have so many times this season, especially early in games.
The Mavericks turned the ball over three times in the next two minutes to give the lead right back to Philadelphia. Naji Marshall, who has been playing great whether he’s in the starting lineup or coming in off the bench this year, coughed it up three times in the first 6:40 of the game. His third led to a transition 3-pointer from Maxey, his second 3-ball of the first quarter, which gave the 76ers a 16-15 lead.
Two minutes later, Klay Thompson threw a bad pass out of bounds for the Mavs’ sixth turnover of the opening frame, leading to a step-back jumper from Edgecombe, which gave Philadelphia a 22-19 lead with 3:13 left in the first. Thompson threw away another awful pass a minute and a half later. Jared McCain picked it off, and Edgecombe was a blur in transition on his way to the bucket this time to put the 76ers up 33-21.
Edgecombe did his best Dwane Wade impression in the first quarter, torching the Mavericks for 14 points, while Maxey, who played his high school basketball at South Garland High, added 11 more on three made 3-pointers. Philly took a 38-33 lead after one, outscoring the Mavs 10-0 off turnovers.
26-24: VJ Edgecombe’s slight scoring advantage over Cooper Flagg
Saturday’s game between the Mavericks and the 76ers featured the two most exciting rookies in the NBA’s 2025-26 class in Edgecombe and Flagg, and this in-game side quest didn’t disappoint. Flagg came into the game second among rookies in scoring, at 18.6 points per game, while Edgecombe came in third, at 15.6. Charlotte’s Kon Knueppel leads all rookies in scoring a third of the way through the season, at 19.4 points per game.
Edgecombe was the engine that made the 76ers go in the first quarter, getting the edge on Flagg with 14 early points, while Flagg took just three shots in the first and scored four of his eight early points at the free-throw line. Ryan Nembhard found Flagg streaking to the hoop after a steal in transition midway through the second quarter, with Edgecomb the only defender back for the 76ers. Edgecombe hacked Flagg to prevent him from getting to the rim for an easy score, picking up his third foul of the first half on the play. He did not score in the second, while Flagg made the plays the game asked him to make and finished the first half with 12 points (to go along with three turnovers).
On the Mavs’ next possession, Flagg pressed the issue on his way to the rack again, splitting the Philadelphia defense for a driving score to bring Dallas to within one, down 55-54 with 5:15 left in the second. Flagg tied the game, 68-68, on another strong drive to the hoop just a minute into the third, as part of an initial 10-0 Mavericks’ run out of halftime.
Edgecombe drove right past Flagg three minutes into the third quarter on his way to his first bucket of the second half, which killed what was then a 12-0 Dallas run, carried over from the last seconds of the second quarter. Four minutes later, Davis found Flagg alone along the baseline off a loose ball, and Flagg dunked it home over Andre Drummond to give the Mavs a 78-74 lead. Two possessions later, Edgecombe hit his first 3-pointer of the game to bring Philly back to within 80-79. He would nail two more before the third quarter was out. But Flagg would not be outdone, scoring on a turnaround jumper two possessions later to put the Mavericks up 84-79 with 4:40 left in the third.
Edgecombe held a slim 22-20 scoring advantage over Flagg after three quarters. Flagg’a baseline jumper three minutes into the fourth quarter tied the game at 104-104, but two minutes later, Edgecombe’s double-pumping drive through the lane gave the 76ers a 108-104 lead and forced Mavs head coach Jason Kidd into a timeout at a crucial juncture of the game.
Flagg’s baseline alley-oop jam in transition from Brandon Williams with 4:35 left to play brought the Mavs back to within 115-108 and gave Flagg 24 points for the game, but the damage (see bottom section) had already been done at that point.
These rooks can hoop. Flagg concluded his tenure as an 18-year-old in the NBA on Saturday, averaging 18.7 points per game before his 19th birthday, second only to LeBron James (20.2 points per game) in NBA history. He turns 19 on Sunday. Flagg scored 24 points to go along with four rebounds and three assists in the loss, while Edgecombe scored 26, pulled down six boards and dished four assists in the 76ers’ win.
16: First-half points from Dominick Barlow
While Maxey predictably led all scorers with 22 points on 9-of-18 shooting, someone named Dominick Barlow turned Saturday’s first half into a career night, adding 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting for the 76ers. Barlow got the start at power forward in the absence of injured stars Joel Embiid and Paul George.
Barlow is a two-way player in his fourth year in the NBA out of Overtime Elite, Atlanta’s private high-school alternative for top-level basketball prospects. His previous high-scoring mark this year was 13 points, before he exploded for 16 in Saturday’s first half against the Mavericks. He cut to the basket for an uncontested dunk with 20 seconds left in the first half to put Philadelphia up 68-60, before Anthony Davis tipped home Flagg’s missed jumper on the final possession of the half to make it a 68-62 game at the break.
Davis led the Mavericks with 14 points and eight rebounds at halftime. Barlow scored 13 in the second quarter, often finding himself free underneath for easy dunks early in the shot clock or in transition. His career-high scoring mark came in a 21-point performance against the Mavericks in 2023, when he played with the San Antonio Spurs. Barlow would match that career-high mark midway through the third on a turnaround jumper from former Maverick Quentin Grimes, which cut the Mavericks’ lead to two, 78-76.
Barlow finished the game with 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting and four rebounds.
8-of-8: Naji Marshall’s shooting start
Marshall shrugged off his three early turnovers against the 76ers to hit his first eight shots from the field. He didn’t miss until there were just 4:30 left to play, on a coast-to-coast drive for a floater that could have cut the Philadelphia lead to five.
Marshall matched Flagg’s 12 points at the break and scored eight more in the third. His runner in the lane with 3:13 left in the third put Dallas up 88-83 and gave Marshall 20 points on the night.
All eight of Marshall’s shot attempts to that point came within the lane, where he is shooting better than 64% this season. The trio of Marshall, Flagg and Davis turned the tide in the third quarter, giving the Mavericks a 97-91 lead heading into the fourth. Those three shot 22-of-28 from the field through the first three quarters for the Mavs.
Two possessions after his first miss of the game, Marshall converted a transition look in close from P.J. Washington that cut the 76ers’ lead to 117-112, but that was as close as the Mavs could get to a comeback. Marshall finished the game with 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting and nine rebounds in the loss.
24-7: 76ers’ run to start the fourth quarter
The 76ers came into Saturday’s game with the best fourth-quarter scoring differential (+5.0) in the NBA, and they showed the Mavericks why through the first six minutes of the frame. Maxey and Edgecombe combined to score 16 points during the 76ers’ 24-7 run to open the fourth. Edgecombe found Maxey open near the top of the key with 6:30 left to play for Maxey’s fifth 3-ball of the game to extend the 76ers’ lead to 11, up 115-104, after the Mavs carried a 97-91 lead into the decisive frame.
The Mavericks couldn’t come back from Philly’s late knockout blow.
36-9: 76ers’ scoring advantage from 3-point range
In a game that featured 16 lead changes, look no further than these last two stats for why the Mavericks fell in Philadelphia on Saturday. Dallas couldn’t the 3-ball to save their lives against the 76ers, making just 3-of-18 (16.7%) attempts from deep in the loss.
The 76ers didn’t have a great shooting night from 3-point land, either, but they connected on 12-of-40 (30%) in the win, outscoring the Mavericks 36-9 from beyond the arc in the win. Maxey and Edgecombe combined to hit 8-of-22 from 3-point range against Dallas.
“We just weren’t secure with the basketball,” Kidd said in his televised press availability after the game. “We just didn’t make [3-pointers], and we didn’t defend the ball well [on Saturday].”
20-8: 76ers’ offensive rebounding advantage
The 76ers beat the Mavs from the outside, and they won the rebounding battle on the inside as well. Philadelphia created 20 second-chance opportunities with offensive rebounds and gave up just eight on the other end. They outscored the Mavericks 19-12 on those second-chance opportunities in the win and shot the ball 19 more times than the Mavs did because of the 18 Dallas turnovers and the offensive rebounding advantage.
