76ers Road Struggles Continue vs. Dallas Mavericks

The Philadelphia 76ers dropped another game on the road. This time, it was to the Dallas Mavericks.

When playing in front of their home crowd at the Wells Fargo Center, the Philadelphia 76ers look as if they are one of the best teams in the league. Once they have to play elsewhere, though, the story becomes much different.

Before Saturday night's battle with the Dallas Mavericks, the Sixers were just 7-12 when playing against teams away from Philly. Considering they have really struggled as of late on the road, a win away from the Wells Fargo Center could've really done well for the Sixers' confidence.

Unfortunately, they just added another number to the loss column after struggling to sustain a lead against the Mavericks on Saturday night. During the first half of the matchup, the Sixers looked like they had a shot to earn a comfortable victory on the road.

18-2 at home
7-13 on road

Only the Magic have a worse road record among all NBA playoff teams.

— Jon Johnson (@jonjohnsonwip) January 12, 2020

Their defense looked sharp, holding Dallas' top star, Luke Doncic in check, and frustrating the entire Mavericks roster. However, the Sixers' offensive effort wasn't nearly as strong as their defensive performance. Therefore, it wouldn't take long for the Mavericks to gain some momentum and climb back to notch a 109-91 victory over the Sixers.

An ugly second-half performance by the Sixers led to an eventual walloping by the Mavs. As Philly ended the game, only draining nine of their 37 attempted three-point shots, it was clear they weren't going to be able to keep up with Dallas, who drained about 40-percent of their shots from long-range.

Not to mention, a strong first half by Ben Simmons offensively, translated to a disappearing act in the second half. As Simmons went into the locker room at the half with eleven points -- he ended the game with the same point total.

No player should be singled out for the loss, though, as everybody involved played their part in contributing to the struggles. Overall, the Sixers just weren't good on offense. And eventually, that caught up to them.

Despite losing their fifth road game in the matter of a few weeks, Sixers' head coach Brett Brown still looked for something to be encouraged about. Brown was happy with the open looks the Sixers were getting on offense, but he blames "a scoring drought" as the sole reason why they lost.

While Brown isn't wrong, discussing the same issues is beginning to get tiring for the Sixers. As they are rumored to be in the market for a reliable perimeter shooter, Saturday's game must've reassured the Sixers front office they could use the help in that department much sooner than later.