DALLAS -- The Sixers as a team grabbed five offensive rebounds against the Mavericks. Salah Mejri, meanwhile, pulled down eight on his own off the bench.
That stat is just a glimpse into how the Sixers were outplayed on the glass by the worst rebounding team in the NBA in their 113-95 loss to the Mavs on Wednesday night at the American Airlines Center (see Instant Replay).
The Mavericks had a season-high 51 rebounds, far surpassing their season average of 38.2 They were led by Mejri's career-high 17. The Sixers had just 39 total, below their season average of 42.8 (9.5 offensive rebounds).
"Rebounding is all about desire," Richaun Holmes said. "I feel like you've got to want the ball more than the other person, try to box out, put yourself in position. It's just something we have to look deep in and we've got to try to do. It's unacceptable the way we rebounded the ball tonight."
"I guess I was surprised, but it's the NBA," Nerlens Noel said. "Guys have certain things they're good at. But it's no excuse. He should never have that type of stat line on us at all."
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Mejri's performance was not a DeMarcus Cousins situation, in which it didn't seem out of the ordinary when he grabbed 15 rebounds agains the Sixers on Monday. Mejri entered the game averaging 4.1 boards a game. He had been rebound-less in a total of 10 minutes over the past two games.
"I guess I was surprised, but it's the NBA," Noel said. "Guys have certain things they're good at. But it's no excuse. He should never have that type of stat line on us at all. [We] just have to do a better job of keeping him off the glass. He was getting some cheap putbacks. [There were] too many consecutive rebounds they had throughout the whole game off just offensive rebounds. That made it tough for us to really assert our offense or get in transition. That's what offensive rebounding will do."
The Sixers were without their two leading rebounders: Joel Embiid (7.8) and Robert Covington (6.1). Ersan Ilyasova (10) and Dario Saric (7) had solid nights on the boards. The rest of the team went flat, most noticeably the bigs.
Jahlil Okafor had just one rebound in 24 minutes as a starter. Noel grabbed three off the bench in 17 minutes. Holmes was rebound-less in six minutes.
"It was one of those games. I think as a team we've been better at rebounding. Just tonight we didn't do a good job at that, and other areas of the game we also didn't do a good job," Okafor said. "I was kind of out of position guarding Dirk Nowitzki, who's out on the perimeter a lot. I was trying to figure out a way to still be effective on the glass when I'm guarding guys who are away from the rim."
"[There are] just little things we have to be vocal about," Noel said. "Letting my teammate know I'm going to get a shot blocked and they've got to react. I think it's little better preparation. I think we've been doing it well. It's the first game that we really slipped up on it. We'll do a good job of bouncing back and forgetting about it."
Brett Brown considers the combined four rebounds between Okafor and Noel "quite glaring." The Sixers will have to find a quick fix with a game on Thursday against the Spurs. There is no instant solution, though. Brown sees the problem going beyond the frontcourt players.
"Try to zoom in on those areas that were clear they were either energy-based or lack of effort, lack of a commitment to being physical, then you show those areas - and to everybody," Brown said. "It's not just those two bigs … I put our guards equally in that mix."
The focus was on the bigs, though, given the way the 7-foot-2 Mejri dominated the glass. Not to mention the fact he doesn't play consistent minutes and barely saw the floor in the last two games.
"I was like, ‘This is my opportunity to enjoy playing,'" Mejri said.
Enjoy he did, at the Sixers' expense.
