The Philadelphia 76ers used a dominant 30-17 fourth quarter to pull away for a 121-114 win over the visiting Dallas Mavericks, who had won six of their previous eight games prior to coming to the Xfinity Mobile Arena.

Tyrese Maxey scored 16 points in the decisive final frame, and ended up with 38 points (on 15-31 shooting, 5-11 from deep) and four assists on the night. But for as great as Maxey was individually, it was the team defense down the stretch that was particularly notable during this Sixers’ run, as the Sixers held the Mavs to just 7-23 shooting in the final 12 minutes of play.

Nick Nurse elected to go with the same lineup — Maxey, Jared McCain, VJ Edgecombe, Jabari Walker and Adem Bona — for the entire 12 minutes of the fourth.

“The three guards were all impacting,” Nurse said after the game when asked about the fourth quarter lineup. “As far as the two bigs, I thought Jabari [Walker] was playing [Cooper] Flagg super physical. I think he got into him. And then the other thing is we started to do some switching between the fours [and] fives, and Jabari would get switched on to [Anthony] Davis and was playing him physical.”

In addition to Maxey’s 38, the Sixers got another big game from VJ Edgecombe (26 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists), along with Dominick Barlow, who tied his career-high with 21 points on 9-13 shooting.

With the win, the Sixers’ sixth win in their last eight games, the Sixers have now improved to 16-11 on the season.

Here’s what I saw.

Dominick Barlow’s career night attacking the rim

Two-way forward Dominick Barlow has been a revelation in the early going, having been in the starting lineup in 14 of the 17 games he’s played so far this season.

But Barlow’s utility has largely come either on the glass, where he’s been one of the Sixers’ more active rebounders on both ends of the floor, and on defense, where his mobility, length and versatility has really helped plug the holes on a Sixers team that has been rising up the defensive leaderboards over the last month.

For context, heading into the game the Sixers gave up 3.4 fewer points per 100 possessions with Barlow on the court than when he’s been on the bench, and the Sixers have collected 72.1% of their defensive rebounding opportunities with him on the floor, compared to just 68.8% when he’s on the bench.

But the offense for Barlow, whose 15.3 points points per 100 possessions ranks just 13th on the squad, is usually an afterthought.

Not tonight.

Barlow came out and attacked the Mavs off the dribble at seemingly every opportunity. He was aggressive taking Klay Thompson off the dribble when he had the chance, which certainly helped. But for the most part Dallas has enough size, athleticism, and weakside help that they should be able to limit a non-shooter like Barlow.

Instead, thanks to a combination of out-of-control and sloppy closeouts from Dallas defenders, combined with their tendency to (understandably) overplay Tyrese Maxey in the dribble handoff game, Barlow had more driving lanes than he is used to seeing, and the Sixers’ two-way glue guy used that opportunity to have himself a huge offensive night.

“If he’s scoring the ball the way he does, they’re gonna over-help on that. Or if they’re switching they’re not gonna worry as much about me as they are him, and that makes a lot of sense,” Dominick Barlow explained after the game when asked about the success he had on DHOs with Tyrese Maxey. “Just being aggressive on that, to make them where they have to respect me, guarding the ball, knowing that I will do that [drive], will make his life easier.”

When all was said and done Barlow finished with 21 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals, which is (by far) the most he’s scored in a Sixers’ uniform (his previous high was the 13 he scored on opening night), and tied his overall career high, which was set back when he played for the Spurs in the 2022-23 season.

Additionally, Barlow played strong defense on Cooper Flagg early, providing a 1-2 punch (along with Jabari Walker) to help limit Dallas’ standout rookie.

Barlow would wind up not playing in the fourth quarter, as the Sixers started the fourth on a 24-7 run to take control of the game, and head coach Nick Nurse elected not to make a substitution once that unit started clicking. But for the Sixers to have two separate two-way players in Barlow and Walker, who each gave strong defensive performances against a tough matchup in Flagg, really speaks to how well they’ve done in utilizing those two-way spots this year.

VJ Max sets the standard again
Through most of this season, we have been remarking about how consistent VJ Edgecombe’s shooting, one of his question marks coming into the draft, has been. Heading into the game Edgecombe was shooting 39.3% from 3-point range.

But most of that damage has come shooting off the catch. In fact, through December 13th Edgecombe was shooting just 6-25 on 3-point shots off the dribble, and just 19-69 on dribble jumpers overall. It’s been a real weakness in his game during the early parts of his NBA career.

But that has started to turn around over the last few games. He hit a pull-up 3 against the Knicks, and his work tonight included a pair of midrange, step-back Js, along with a 4-point play when he got fouled on a made pull-up 3.

Obviously, nobody is expecting Edgecombe to turn into Tyrese Maxey overnight, but the fact that he was even looking for that three coming off the screen is indicative of all the work that he’s been putting into the shot, and how much confidence he’s gained as a result. As I mentioned in the recap last night, for as good as VJ Edgecombe is right now, he does so many things that you look at and are tantalized over what this Edgecombe/Maxey pairing could do in a few year’s time.

“One of the greatest ever,” Edgecombe said, after a long pause and a brief smile, when asked during his postgame press conference about what he thinks his pairing with Maxey could develop into down the line. “We just gotta keep our head down, keep working, and trust what God has planned for us.

“If we stay together, if we all just keep getting better and better each day, we’re gonna be good,” Edgecombe continued. “And I can’t leave Mac [Jared McCain] out, for sure.”

That dual timeline — Edgecombe being a significantly positive contributor now, and seemingly just scratching the surface of his potential — is such a luxury for a team like the Sixers. Yes, Maxey is playing at an All-NBA level and you want to do everything you can to give him a chance to compete right now. But he’s also just 25, and there’s enough runway for the Sixers’ backcourt of the future to grow and develop alongside of each other.

Edgecombe was terrific yet again in this one, finishing with 26 points on 10-21 shooting, along with six rebounds and four assists. He and Maxey combined for eight assists and just two turnovers, with the Sixers’ decisive advantages in both turnovers (18 Dallas turnovers to just eight for the Sixers) and rebounding (20 offensive rebounds for the Sixers, just eight for Dallas) helping give the Sixers a whopping 102-83 advantage in field goal attempts.

In addition to the scoring, which was needed, and the defense, Edgecombe was all over the court, leading both teams in both deflections and loose balls recovered.

Edgecombe’s now averaging 24.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists over his last four games, a level of consistency, and two-way impact, that arguably exceed his thrilling start to the season.

I’m adding Tyrese Maxey into this section as well, as he finished with a game-high 38 points on 15-31 shooting. He drilled corner 3s in transition, hit the long pull-up bombs that we’ve become accustomed to, used his speed to get all the way to the cup against a tough interior defense, countered the Dallas defense with his floater game and created space for his teammates with the insane level of gravity he possesses, and the attention he receives from the opponent, each and every time down the court.

I’m yada-yadaing his performance again, and I feel guilty about it, but if there’s any proof over how much he’s improved it’s that he can drop 38, including 16 in the decisive stretch of the game, and we’re just kind of used to it by now.

Switch-up for the centers

For much of the first 26 games of the season, young big man Adem Bona has been disappointing. Meanwhile, Andre Drummond, who was borderline unplayable last year, has been a revelation. With the toe injury in the rearview mirror, with him clearly getting in better shape in the offseason, and with Bona’s disappointing play, Drummond has seized that backup center spot.

That dynamic was inverted tonight, with Bona’s activity and athleticism giving the Sixers a lift against a Dallas squad that’s filled with an abundance of size and athleticism at every position, but without much of a threat to pull-up off the dribble. Bona was able to rotate over and alter shots that Drummond just couldn’t get to, and Dallas didn’t have the electric guards to make him pay for his (at times) overly-aggressive rotations.

Bona wasn’t perfect. He still missed some passes that he should have come down with. While the six offensive rebounds helped the Sixers gain second chance points, his defensive rebounding continues to be a problem. Still, he altered shots, allowed the Sixers’ other four defenders to be more aggressive on the perimeter because they knew he was back there to cover up their mistakes if they got beat, and he matched Dallas’ athleticism and gave the Sixers a vertical presence as a lob threat, even if he didn’t necessarily convert all the opportunities.

As good as Drummond has been, the Sixers could really use Bona to start playing more consistent basketball. That’s true not only because Joel Embiid will obviously continue to miss games here and there, making the Sixers’ third string center more important than most. But they also really need a long-term solution at backup center to emerge, and at 32 and on the final year of his contract that’s unlikely to be Drummond.

Stray thoughts

• I thought this was one of Jared McCain’s better games of the season, even if the shot wasn’t going in. He was very active on defense, with quick hands and solid in his rotations. On the other end, the spacing he provides, and the extra passes he makes, continues to open up the offense. He still doesn’t look like he’s quite there physically, which shows up in both his first step on offense and his lateral movement on defense, but it seems like he’s trending in the right direction. Single game +/- is generally not something I cite all that often, but McCain being a game-high +29 feels at least directionally correct, even if it might be slightly overstating the degree. He made a positive impact despite his shooting struggles, with no further proof needed than Nick Nurse playing him the final 13 minutes of the game.
• Another tough night for Quentin Grimes, who shot just 2-9 from the field, and 0-3 from deep, on his way to six points in 25 minutes of play. Grimes is shooting just 27.9% from the field, and 26.7% from deep, over his last five. He made some decent drive-and-kick reads in this one and continues to play strong defense, but Grimes is slumping in a big way right now.
• The 3rd quarter woes continue, with the Mavs outscoring the Sixers 35-23 to erase the Sixers’ six point halftime lead. The defense was the main culprit this time, as Dallas shot 15-19 in the frame. What was particularly frustrating about this third quarter meltdown is that it wasn’t fueled by most of what typically ails the Sixers: they only committed one turnover in the quarter, they dominated the glass, and most of Dallas’ damage came in the half court, not against the Sixers’ porous transition defense. I mentioned above about how Andre Drummond struggled defensively, and it felt like the first six minutes of the third is when these struggles were at their most severe. Whether it was Nembhard shooting over him, or Flagg, Washington or Marshall driving by him or dunking over him, Drummond’s defensive rotations were just not good enough in this one.

Quotable

“He goes 3-11 and played awesome. I mean, he had a +29. Tons of poking the ball away, tons of making plays, tons of getting to the free-throw line when we needed a couple of points. It looks to me like his conditioning, his physical activity, is looking better. Wait until he goes about 7-10 from 3 one of these nights, because that’s coming too.” — Nick Nurse, on Jared McCain’s play.

“I think this has been a great learning lesson for me. Offensively, if stuff’s not clicking, how am I going to find my niche? How am I going to get minutes? I think on the defensive end I can really figure it out, I feel like I’m a smart player.” — Jared McCain, on his defensive activity.

“We have a lot of variety of what we can do. We have a lot of guys that like playing for each other. A lot of guys that can shoot the ball. A lot of guys that can playmake. At the end of the day, we’re gonna compete.” — Tyrese Maxey, on the success of the Maxey, McCain and Edgecombe trio.

“He does a lot of things that are just interesting. Defensively, he can guard so many different positions. And then on offense, like, he’s got game. He’s got handle, he can finish around the rim, and I’ve just been encouraging for him to keep shooting them threes. Him and Jabari [Walker], shoot them corner threes. If guys are going to try to load up on us, shoot those threes, knock them down and make them pay.” — Tyrese Maxey, on Dominick Barlow.

“Gotta stand in there and make the play for my teammates. Jabari’s done a good job of taking charges. You know, I have a vet in Kyle Lowry, so I’m gonna give him a shout-out. He didn’t believe in my in taking that charge. I told him ‘This is a charge. Review it. Go ahead. I don’t care’. I think that’s like my 3rd one on the season. I’m proud of myself in that aspect.” — Tyrese Maxey, on drawing a charge on Anthony Davis.

“Any one of us can make a play at any time. Any one of us can break down the opponent. We call can pass, and we all can score. It was all clicking.” — VJ Edgecombe on the success of the three guard lineup.

“We have guards that demand a lot of attention. Even if it’s fake DHO or a straight line drive, guys aren’t helping off [of the guards] as much, so it’s really just 1-on-1, and you’re downhill and you have a step. I mean, I’m an NBA basketball player so I can finish a layup at the rim when I beat my man.” — Dominick Barlow, on trying to attack more when he has an advantage.

You can watch the full postgame press conferences over on the PHLY Sports YouTube channel.