Sometimes things happen for the best.

That is not to say I’m glad Elton Brand and Derek Fisher got hurt but you know what I mean.

It hasn’t made much sense to me why Chris Kaman has been on the bench in the 4th quarter and apparently he’s been lobbying for crunch time himself.  Tuesday night he got his wish.

At first glance it looked like another night of O. J. Mayo and Chris Kaman leading the Dallas Mavericks to a victory and both certainly played well but it was Dallas Coach Rick Carlisle’s rare use of big men Kaman and Brandan Wright in the fourth quarter that squelched a Philadelphia 76ers comeback and preserved an eventual 107-100 victory.

Carlisle has been playing mostly “small ball” with a small lineup in crunch time, usually using Elton Brand at center but Brand was unavailable for the game with a groin injury and Derek Fisher went down with a knee injury as well, even though he started the game despite having the flue.

After Dallas had built a lead but had it whittled down to one basket by the end of the 3rd quarter, Wright came into the game and scored 6 fourth-quarter points and grabbed 5 rebounds. Kaman then returned to the game for rare 4th-quarter time and added 8, and Mayo and Darren Collison then joined in stretching the Mavericks lead back up to 10.

Mayo led all scorers with 26 and had another great all-around game, adding 8 assists. 3 rebounds and 3 steals while only committing 2 turnovers. Kaman added 20 points and 7 rebounds while Shawn Marion added 14/9. Wright finished with 10/6 in only 17 minutes.

Philadelphia’s Dorrell Wright almost single-handedly kept the 76ers in the game hitting 7-13 from downtown for 25 points total to keep the game close. Spencer Hawes tied a season high with 18 points and added 7 rebounds.  The Sixers played again without leading scorer Jrue Holiday who has been out with a sprained foot.   Holiday has been the Sixers’ best player while waiting for Andrew Bynum’s return.

The teams now have identical records as both are now 12-13. The game provided a needed confidence booster as the Mavs will be facing stiff competition just around the corner.  #Heat #Grizzlies #Spurs

In-depth analysis coming up on The Smoking Cuban.

The Dallas Mavericks dug themselves out of an early 9-point hole they found themselves in shortly after the start of the game and took a 31-28 lead at the end of the first quarter.  The game would stay close but as has been the case all-too-often lately the Mavericks found a way to lose again, committing 5 turnovers in a row and 8 total in the 4^th quarter, killing a late charge led by Vince Carter who finished with 15 points.  While they were still able to pull within two and had an opportunity to win, O. J. Mayo blew a chance to tie my missing the first of two free throws near the end of the game and deliberately missed the second one, after which Jae Crowder missed the shot at the buzzer that could have sent the game into overtime.

Overall, the Mavs didn’t play poorly but had a stretch that proved disastrous and couldn’t pull it out in the end and the 76ers prevailed 100-98.

While leading scorer O. J. Mayo had a subpar game, Chris Kaman continued to be the Mavs’ most consistent shooter and put up 20 points while grabbing 4 rebounds.  In a very ironic twist, Elton Brand came off the bench for his return to Philadelphia and resembled his old self for the first time as a Maverick with a season-high 17 points, 8 rebounds, a steal and a block – the Mavs’ only blocked shot of the game.  Shawn Marion also had 17 points and 8 rebounds.

The 76ers got 22 points and 4 rebounds out of Evan Turner, 20 and 7 from Thaddeus Young and Jrue Holiday had 18 points and 7 assists.  The Sixers improved to 9-6 and are playing decent basketball with no timetable on a possible return for Andrew Bynum.

The Mavericks fell to 7-8 and are below .500 for the first time in recent memory, perhaps since early in the Dirk Nowitzki era or before his arrival.   A host of problems continue to plague the Mavs on any given night, most consistently poor defense, which contributed to this loss by allowing the low-scoring 76ers to hit the 100 point mark.

The Mavs will play back-to-back Wednesday when they visit the Chicago Bulls who are 6-7 and in much the same situation without Derek Rose as the Nowitzki-less Mavs.  Full breakdown of the 76ers’ game and Bull preview tomorrow on The Smoking Cuban.