Mavs trample plucky 76ers

DALLAS - The Dallas Mavericks have the ultimate luxury: When the Escalade breaks down, they have a Tahoe as the backup.

The Mavericks, who haven't had a dominant center in the franchise's entire existence, appeared to have two dominant centers playing in Friday night's 99-90 victory over the 76ers at the American Airlines Center.

The Dallas center combo of Tyson Chandler and Brendan Haywood made the Sixers look like squirrels scaling trees. Chandler and Haywood combined for 17 points and 29 rebounds, a dozen of those rebounds coming off the offensive glass.

"I was just attacking the glass on both ends and trying to give maximum effort," Haywood explained.

Neither Chandler (25 minutes, 23 seconds) nor Haywood (22:32) played more than 26 minutes.

"Their size killed us," said Sixers coach Doug Collins, looking down at his stat sheet for proof. "At the end of the day, Tyson and Brendan . . . it was the second chance. Second shots just wore us down. It was just their size."

The Sixers dropped to 2-6. The Mavericks, led by Jose Barea with 19 points, improved to 6-2.

By halftime, Chandler and Haywood had combined for 18 rebounds. The Sixers' high rebounder was power forward Elton Brand, who had nine for the game and didn't play the final 4:58.

More pointedly, Sixers shooting guard Evan Turner finished with six rebounds, which was more than center Spencer Hawes, who finished with five in 24:17, or power forward Thaddeus Young, who scored 17 points but grabbed only two rebounds in 24:21 of playing time.

"That's one of our weaknesses. We don't have a lot inside," said swingman Andre Iguodala, who finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.

"If we don't rebound, we're going to be in trouble - and if we don't guard that basketball. We have to find a way to try to make up for our lack of size by getting everybody in there rebounding."

For most of the game, the Sixers' issue was solely rebounding. In the final quarter, it was guarding Barea, who darted to the basket for mostly uncontested layups.

"He's low to the ground, super quick, so even if you're in front of him, if he gets at your knees, he has lower leverage and there's no way to stop him . . .," said Sixers point guard Jrue Holiday, who had 13 points and 11 assists, and is usually very good at stopping anyone. "He came out and hooped today."

Each team had at least five players who scored in double figures, with the Sixers getting 14 each from Hawes and Andres Nocioni and the Mavericks getting 16 each from Shawn Marion and Dirk Nowitzki.

But Dallas achieved scoreboard separation with its free-throw shooting.

Dallas finished the game 23 for 29 from the line; the Sixers were 14 for 23.

The environment in the American Airlines Center is a winning one: a sold-out crowd, overwhelming noise at just the right moments, and a home team that can outplay most visitors.

On Friday night, the Mavericks did exactly that.