Dallas @ Philadelphia preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 28, 2017 ) Philadelphia 112, Dallas 110

The Philadelphia 76ers are the hottest team in the Eastern Conference and put themselves in the driver's seat for the No. 3 seed in the playoffs by holding off the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday. The 76ers will try to get one step closer to clinching that No. 3 spot and avoid a letdown when they host the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.

Philadelphia nearly squandered a 30-point lead but held on for a 132-130 win over LeBron James and the Cavaliers on Friday to run their winning streak to 13 straight - the longest for the franchise since the 1984-85 squad also won 13 in a row. "I think it was big," rookie point guard Ben Simmons told reporters. "Beating a team like (Cleveland) without a star (center Joel Embiid), I think everyone is coming together as a team." The 76ers need one more win to clinch their first 50-win season since the 2000-01 squad led by Allen Iverson won 56 games and reached the NBA Finals. Dallas is playing its final road game of 2017-18 on Sunday and dropped the first two of the three-game trip at Orlando and Detroit.

TV: 1 p.m. ET, NBATV, FS Southwest (Dallas), NBCS Philadelphia

ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (24-56): Dallas played hard the last two games with a five-point loss to the Magic and an overtime setback at the Pistons, and the young players are making the most of expanded minutes. Rookie power forward Johnathan Motley is getting an opportunity to start with future Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki (ankle) done for the season and followed up 14 points in 41 minutes on Wednesday with his first career double-double and season highs of 26 points and 12 boards on Friday. "He played great and you've got to tip your cap to our player development people, our G League people," coach Rick Carlisle told reporters of Motley. "(Texas Legends coach) Bob MacKinnon coached him all year and got him ready for this opportunity. Look, he’s getting the minutes. Every player says, 'Hey, if I got the minutes I can get it done.' He's getting it done and doing good things."

ABOUT THE 76ERS (49-30): Simmons collected 27 points on 12-of-17 shooting, 15 rebounds, 13 assists and four steals in Friday's win and is carrying the team while Embiid (eye) recovers. "I know Ben really embraces the challenge of playing against LeBron," Philadelphia coach Brett Brown told reporters. "It didn’t surprise me he had a big game, when you look at the stat line, and you see a triple-double, a significant triple double. It really didn’t surprise me. He's been doing a lot lately that doesn’t catch me as much off guard as it used too." Simmons is averaging 14.6 points, 11.1 assists and 10.3 rebounds during the 13-game winning streak.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Mavericks SF Dorian Finney-Smith recorded his first career double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds on Friday.

2. 76ers SG JJ Redick is averaging 21.6 points over the last seven games to raise his season mark to 16.9.

3. Philadelphia earned a 112-110 win at Dallas on Oct. 28 as Simmons collected 23 points, eight assists and seven boards.

PREDICTION: 76ers 121, Mavericks 103