Tobias Harris steps up again in Sixers road win over Mavericks

The Sixers held on for a 120-116 win over the Mavericks despite a late push from Dallas, riding Tyrese Maxey, Tobias Harris, and Kelly Oubre to a surprise victory.

Here’s what I saw.

The Good

— Every time Tyrese Maxey appears to have hit a plateau, the ascending star seems to find another level he can hit. From bench piece to starter to All-Star, he has continued to excel no matter what role he has to play.

The noticeable jump lately has come on the defensive end of the floor. His play-to-play effort has been worlds better lately, and his speed gives him a chance to make plays whenever he’s dialed in. Maxey may have gotten away with a foul on a pass breakup in transition during the first quarter, but the principles were more important — he beat everyone down the floor, took away the rim, and then jumped forward to create a steal when his opportunity arrived.

Maxey’s speed, mind you, was much more dangerous on the other end of the floor. Playing near his hometown, Maxey was ready to put on a show back in his home state, dropping 17 first-quarter points to pull the Sixers out of an 11-0 hole. Dallas could not figure out what to do with him in space, and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a better stretch of acceleration/deceleration from Maxey than the first quarter of this game. Even with the Mavericks sitting back and hoping to cut him off from the rim, they were helpless to stop him as Maxey dropped a bushel of eight-foot runners on their heads.

Plus, how about this nasty stepback against Dante Exum?

Maxey was so good in the first quarter that Dallas completely reconfigured how they were defending him as the game wore on. He faced doubles out to halfcourt at times, with the Mavericks opting to hedge on a lot of ball screens to force the ball out of his hands. For the most part, he made the right decisions out of those looks, creating some four-on-threes that were aided by Kyle Lowry’s ability to pick apart those looks.

— When Tyrese Maxey briefly left the game with a potential head injury, I said, “It’s Kelly Oubre time” to myself watching in the studio, and not in a good way. It had been a ghastly outing for Oubre up to that point, and with a void to fill, safe to say I was worried he’d commandeer the offense.

Well, Oubre did commandeer the offense, and it worked out beautifully for Philadelphia. He made just one three in this game, deep into a second-half run that helped seal the game, but Oubre’s drives to the cup were a lifeline for a team that needed just one more guy to step up. Some of those shots may have been bad process with good results, but who cares? Philadelphia is hardly in a position to pick and choose right now, and if anything, you could argue it required a smart adjustment from Oubre. Instead of force-feeding more missed threes, Oubre got to his spots and scored around the cup.

He also had a few great decision-making moments as a passer, which are important to note because they don’t always come. Oubre made an extra pass to Nic Batum for a corner three in the second half that I hope the staff highlights in a film session this week, and then he made several more great reads on the move as they got deeper in the game. His kick to Tobias Harris for a corner three and under 90 seconds to play was basically the game-clincher, a product of nothing more than trust.

Celebrate the scoring, yes, but be sure to remind him that the little plays go a long way.

— On Sunday’s pregame show, we talked about the Mavericks as a good opponent for Tobias Harris to attack, given Dallas’ defensive limitations on the perimeter. It looked like that wouldn’t matter after a first quarter to forget for Harris, with more than one of his jumpers screaming off of the backboard or side rim.

Slowly but surely, he found his way into this game. Kyle Lowry opted to step out of a three to find Harris for a short midrange look in the second quarter, and that one make appeared to get him going. He would pick up two free throws after beating a closeout, set up Paul Reed for a bucket, pick up another two points on a transition push, and the momentum kept building and building. When you looked up at halftime, he was a tidy 6/10 for 14 points, having carried the Sixers for a portion of the first half.

The good vibes kept rolling out of halftime, with Harris hitting a pair of threes early in the third to keep Philadelphia out in front. And I continue to be encouraged by how Harris is playing the last two games, separate from whether he’s making shots or not.

My favorite offensive example of the game — the Sixers worked the ball around the perimeter early in the clock, with Buddy Hield eventually thinking better of iso-ball. When it got down to Harris on the block, he waited out the double patiently, Hield hit a timely cut into the paint, and Kyle Lowry waited for the extra pass on the weak side, forcing Dallas to call timeout on the ensuing three:

This game blended the best parts of Harris on offense — confident spot-up shooting, good mid-post work, and some timely playmaking. He picked a good time to break out of his cold spell, and his team-high 28 points were an outstanding follow-up to the Charlotte performance.

— It takes a lot to be as impactful as Kyle Lowry was when you’re ice-cold from the field. Lowry couldn’t hit water from a boat for most of this game, yet he was a genuine difference-maker for Philadelphia, moving the chess pieces around the board like a seasoned grandmaster.

Putting a “true point guard” on the floor with Maxey has done wonders for the Sixers. With an excellent decisionmaker next to Maxey, the Sixers have been able to run more off-ball stuff for Maxey while knowing that they have multiple options to create a good shot on any given possession. And Lowry has benefitted from playing next to a younger, quicker counterpart — since he’s playing against a lot of four-on-threes and advantage situations, Lowry’s decisiveness has shined for Philly. His connective passing and vocal leadership have guys doing things it wasn’t clear they were capable of. Mo Bamba is allowed to finish an alley-oop? Might never have known!

And while Lowry has issues in certain defensive matchups, his smarts and hands continue to disrupt plays. His timing on stunts and low-man rotations was extra sharp on Sunday, which provided the spark for several good defensive possessions. They are 2-0 in the Lowry starter era, so take that for what it’s worth.

— Tobias Harris’ offensive rebound in the final few minutes nearly made me shed a tear. He can impact games on the glass if he puts his mind to it, and after speaking with Joel Embiid last week, it seems he is putting his mind to it. Keep after it!

— Do the Sixers need to bring Paul Reed to come off of the bench to keep him in the right mentality? The last two games suggest the answer is a resounding yes. After a strong outing against Charlotte on Friday, Reed had another strong performance against the Mavericks, disrupting the game with activity whenever he was on the floor.

While Reed hit a trail three in transition (to the surprise of announcer Hubie Brown), the vast majority of his work was done in or around the painted area. Alongside Nic Batum — a great balance to Reed’s chaotic energy on the bench unit — Reed poked and prodded and kept so many loose balls alive, playing with the sort of purpose Nick Nurse has asked for during his press conferences. And while he always looks a moment away from a car crash on his way to the basket, his improvement as a rim finisher is real, with Reed scoring on some nice reverse layups against Dallas.

I have very few questions about Reed as a backup. They just need to get the MVP healthy…

The Bad

— Nic Batum needs to start making shots. Not much more to analyze beyond that.

— It was not their finest closing stretch, but I’ll give them a pass given the gap in top-end talent. Luka Doncic is insane and Kyrie Irving is still a crazy shotmaker.

The Ugly

— Buddy Hield’s foul to end the first half is one of the single dumbest plays of the NBA season. There were less than two seconds left in the half, let Dallas throw whatever inbounds pass they want before halfcourt and bet that they won’t make a prayer.

— The layup Lowry smoked in the fourth quarter was beyond belief. I know he’s lost a step athletically, but yeesh.