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The Sixers shot 9 for 42 (21.4 percent) in the second half. It was their lowest total in a half at the Wells Fargo Center.
"We got good looks. They just didn't go down," said Andre Iguodala, who was 0 for 5 in the second half.
In the Sixers' case, the shooting woes became contagious.
"When you miss shots, you can just see, it sort of takes the life out of you," Sixers coach Doug Collins said.
After playing Dirk Nowitzki as well as any team could in the first half, the reigning NBA finals MVP reverted to form in the final two periods.
Nowitzki shot 2 for 11 for four points in the first half. Over the final two quarters he scored 24 points, shooting 8 for 11, including 2 of 3 from beyond the arc.
"I felt I had good looks and not a good rhythm, and the shots were falling short," Nowitzki said of the first half. "The second half I had the same mind-set and had a couple go in, and when a shooter sees a couple go in the confidence goes up."
That was something the Sixers never saw in the second half.
For the game, Jrue Holiday shot 0 for 9, Jodie Meeks was 0 for 3, Lou Williams was 4 for 15, and Evan Turner went 2 for 11.
That's 6 for 38 from the four guards.
One bright spot was rookie center Nik Vucevic, who scored a career-high 16 points, hitting 7 of 8 from the field.
"I was just trying to help us offensively and defensively," said Vucevic, who scored 12 of his points in the first half.
The Sixers led 51-37 at halftime, and even by their standards they did an exemplary job of taking care of the ball.
Entering the game averaging a league-low 10.5 turnovers per game, the Sixers committed just one first-half turnover.
Dallas committed only seven, but that stood out in comparison to the Sixers.
The Mavs were short on guards, with Jason Terry and Rodrigue Beaubois (personal reasons), and Delonte West (broken finger) out.
Dallas got back into the game in the third quarter, and not surprisingly, Nowitzki began heating up. He scored 12 points, hitting 5 of 6 from the field.
Dallas outscored the Sixers, 24-8, and led 61-59 entering the fourth quarter.
It was a season-low total of points in any quarter for the Sixers, and things didn't improve much in the final 12 minutes.
Watch video wrap-up and player reaction to Friday's game against the Mavericks at
www.philly.com/76ersvideos
Contact staff writer Marc Narducci
at mnarducci@phillynews.com, 856-779-3225 or @sjnard
on Twitter.
