Sixers Finish Road Trip with a Matchup Against the Mavs

Tonight, the Sixers will face off against the Dallas Mavericks to conclude their 4-game road trip. The Mavericks played last night against San Antonio, which saw DeMar DeRozan hit the game-winning shot and hand Dallas the loss, only the second in their last eight games. The Sixers are coming off of a resounding win against the Thunder on Saturday.

The key to beating this Dallas team will be to control their all-world point guard, Luka Doncic, and this is something the Sixers have done in the past. In their lone matchup earlier this year, Luka was held to 19 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists and Philadelphia blew them out of the building, 111-97. Ben Simmons gave Luka fits, forcing him to turn the ball over 7 times, and his struggles really threw off the rest of that offense. His career averages against the Sixers are 17.3/6.7/6.7 with 4 turnovers a game on 46.2% true shooting.

It appears that Tobias Harris and Danny Green will be available for this game, as they were both inactive for their last matchup against the Thunder for what Doc Rivers would call a "maintenance night." But it remains unclear when newly acquired guard George Hill will be set to make his team debut. Also available for Dallas is their talented big man Kristaps Porzingis, who did not play against the Sixers in their prior matchup.

After tonight's game, the Sixers will return home but have a grueling schedule lying ahead. After Dallas, their 4-game homestand looks like this: Brooklyn Nets, LA Clippers, Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns. Then right after that, it's off to Milwaukee for a 2-game series against Giannis and the Bucks. These next 6 games will have a combined opposing record of 201-118, good for a .630 winning percentage. The team has been all over the place lately, and this will be our best chance to see what they're made of against several of the top teams in the NBA before the playoffs start later in May.