Mavericks at 76ers
The Philadelphia 76ers are the lone remaining winless team in the NBA
and look to break through when they host the Dallas Mavericks on Monday.
Philadelphia is 0-10 and has lost 20 consecutive games
dating back to last season.
The 76ers have lost by an average of 13.5 points this season and trailed by as many as 19 to San Antonio on Saturday before falling 92-83. "We didn't roll over, there wasn't any backpedaling from our group," Philadelphia coach Brett Brown said afterward. "It's a quality I've seen from our group most nights since we've been coaching." Dallas has won three consecutive games and flashed its depth by holding out forwards Dirk Nowitzki and Chandler Parsons and shooting guard Wesley Matthews during a 110-98 road win over the Houston Rockets on Saturday. "Well, I'm not surprised. I really believe in our group," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle told reporters. "I believe in our depth, I like our team one through 15 and we had to do this to do the right thing toward getting fully healthy."
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (Dallas), CSN Philadelphia
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (6-4): Veteran guard Ray Felton moved into the starting lineup with Matthews being rested and he scored a season-best 23 points in his best performance in two seasons with Dallas. Felton played in just 29 games last season while being hampered by an ankle injury and also dealing with a reputation hit after his troubles with the New York Knicks. "Those who forgot about me or those who forgot about the nine years of work I put in this league before last year, just letting them know that I’m still here," Felton said afterward. "I still got it. I just had a bad injury. I had a lot of disappointing situations that happened off the court in New York before I got to Dallas. Nothing I can do about that. That’s behind me, that’s in the past."
ABOUT THE 76ERS (0-10): Rookie center Jahlil Okafor continued his strong start with 21 points and 12 rebounds against San Antonio and has six 20-point outings and two double-doubles over his first 10 NBA games. Okafor's performance against the Spurs was doubly impressive in that it came one night after his worst showing - six points on 3-of-18 shooting against the Oklahoma City Thunder. "Every game is going to be different," Okafor told reporters. "We played a veteran team on back-to-back nights. I'm impressed with the way my entire team played after playing back-to-back."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Mavericks have won the last five meetings and 15 of the past 18.
2. Nowitzki had a season-low nine points on 4-of-13 shooting against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday before being rested the following night.
3. Philadelphia F Robert Covington (knee) is expected to return after missing the last seven games.