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Mavericks used balanced attack vs. hapless 76ers

Dec 16, 2006 - 5:54 AM DALLAS (Ticker) -- Without Allen Iverson and Chris Webber, the Philadelphia 76ers had nowhere to turn. The Dallas Mavericks had plenty of options.

Jason Terry scored 18 points and Dirk Nowitzki added 15 as the Mavericks used a balanced attack to post a 93-79 victory over the 76ers, whose losing streak reached 10 games.

Erick Dampier collected 12 points and eight rebounds for the Mavericks, who shot 47 percent (34-of-73) from the field to overwhelm the undermanned 76ers.

Nowitzki said the team played hard defensively, allowing them to stay focused against a lesser opponent.

"That's what really good teams do is be consistent throughout the game and keep the defense up," Nowitzki said. "Teams are going to make runs and you can't always make your shots, but we've got to stay solid."

Iverson missed his fifth straight game after requesting a trade last week. Without its primary option, Philadelphia had been leaning on Webber, who missed this contest with a sprained ankle.

"Obviously they miss Iverson," Nowitzki said. "He's one of the best scorers in the league. I guess all of them are waiting on the deal to see if they're going to get some more help."

"We looked at them as being a hot team coming in. We looked at them as being a team where (Willie) Green and (Kyle) Korver really burned us badly two years ago," Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. "We were able to pretty much keep them at bay."

The Mavericks had no such problems, collecting 19 assists and featuring six double-digit scorers. Dallas picked apart a porous Sixers' defense, virtually getting any shot it wanted.

"Down the stretch we executed at both ends, got some stops, got some rebounds and made some shots to win the game," Nowitzki said.

Terry shot 6-of-12 from the floor and 4-of-5 from the arc. Nowitzki made 5-of-14 shots.

Terry fueled a 21-0 run in the first quarter, scoring six points during the spurt, to put the Sixers in a 23-6 hole in which they never recovered from.

"It's no secret that the key to our success is getting off to great starts," Terry said. "It builds our confidence and offensively, it empowers our defense. We can get our defense set and play with a lot more energy."

Philadelphia is on its longest losing streak since a 13-game skid from December 28, 1996 to January 20, 1997.

"It's not the best of times. I'm not going to lie, but what do you do?" Sixers guard Kyle Korver said. "We get paid to play ball, so we go out and we're playing hard. We're not always necessarily playing the smartest basketball, but we're playing hard and hopefully we'll keep on learning and see what other little pieces we get to try to build this thing back up."

Andre Iguodala scored 17 points and Samuel Dalembert had 16 points and seven rebounds for the Sixers, who shot 46 percent (32-of-70).

Despite the Philadelphia's putrid play, Iguodala remains positive.

"I enjoy playing ball. I enjoy my job," Iguodala said. "I'm learning something every single day and just taking advantage of the situation. The whole team is in a tough position right now as far as losing, and everyone is talking about the trade, so we're just trying to stay positive."