By Tommy Matthews
Luka Doncic scored 42 points and Kyrie Irving 40 in the Dallas Mavericks’ 133-126 victory over the Sixers.
Doncic won a matchup of the NBA’s top two scorers as Joel Embiid finished with 35 points for the 76ers, who were playing a night after a win in Miami without their All-Star center.
The 76ers scored the first 15 points of the fourth quarter to get within four with Embiid and James Harden watching from the bench, which brought Doncic back in the game earlier than planned.
The return of Doncic, who had 12 assists, got Irving going again with a three-point play and a deep 3-pointer before Doncic hit another long one for a 119-108 lead. They combined to go 13 of 21 from deep.
“They were tough with one wizard with the basketball in Luka,” Sixers forward Tobias Harris said.
“Now they’ve got two of them out there. Those are tough matchups. They just picked us apart tonight.”
“Everybody they passed to made it,” Sixers coach Doc Rivers said.
“You have nights like that, and they had a night like that tonight.”
