PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers were able to pick up an impressive 121-114 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night on the second night of a back-to-back. The Sixers built a 12-point lead in the early going, but a poor third quarter put them behind the 8-ball before rallying with a big fourth to knock off the Mavs.

Tyrese Maxey had 38 points while Dominick Barlow tied a career-high with 21 points and four rebounds on the night. VJ Edgecombe had 26 points, six rebounds, and four assists, Andre Drummond had six and 12 rebounds, and Adem Bona added 10 and eight boards with Jared McCain adding 12, five rebounds, and five assists.

Here are the three biggest takeaways following the win:

An unorthodox lineup closes out the win

The Sixers went with a lineup of Maxey, Edgecombe, McCain, Jabari Walker, and Bona for the final 13 minutes of the game and it fueled their ability to put the Mavericks away late. The 3-guard lineup was able to get a long run which gave coach Nick Nurse the chance to really get a good look at it as he moves forward with this group. Maxey, Edgecombe, and McCain were able to play off of each other and play fast, and Walker deserves a ton of credit for defending the likes of Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg as well as big man Anthony Davis and even some of Dallas’ guards while Bona was protecting the rim. It was an unorthodox lineup, but a lineup that deserves credit.

“I think just start off on the defensive end,” Walker said after the win. “Just versatility. Me and Bona switched a lot of those actions, and I was able to be aggressive with Cooper because I knew Bona had me on the back end, and then he could move his feet to guard that high up. So, I felt comfortable just pressing him up, not giving him anything, and then sending them to Bona down low. I also had the strength to guard Anthony Davis out there, so they could just start with versatility. Then offensively, we were both energy guys, so just got Reese and Jared and all them open and just energy.”

Barlow’s career night

Barlow continues to do a lot of different things out on the floor for the Sixers. He shot 9-for-13 from the floor, knocked down a triple, and played some excellent defense as well. He continues to be a winning player and give the Sixers a lot of different positive aspects on both ends. He just has a high basketball IQ and is able to find the open gaps within opposing defenses to find open looks at the basket just by cutting and being able to catch and finish. That’s an underrated skill in this league.

“I think just attacking closeouts really kind of got me going early,” Barlow said. “When you can kind of be aggressive downhill and you’re putting pressure on the rim, stuff starts going your way. I mean, Drum get two rebounds two perfect passes on, like a backdoor cut. So things were kind of just going my way tonight. We were kind of able to exploit some of the things they were doing defensively and things just being aggressive, understanding that Joel and PG are here, and Tyrese had 38, but he can’t always do it by himself. He needs help. Just trying to help him out.”

McCain takes another step forward

It’s certainly been an up-and-down season thus far for the second-year guard as he continues to work his way back from a major left knee injury as well as a torn UCL in his right thumb, but there are signs that he is working his way back into things. He stuffed the box score in this one and made big plays on the offensive end of the floor. He also played 30 minutes against the Mavs after playing 21 minutes on Friday night in New York when he had 12 points in that win. He didn’t shoot the ball well on Saturday, but he made a big impact for Philadelphia.

“I think again, like it’s still a process with Jared, right?” Nurse said after the win. “I think last night, obviously, was another I gotta let him play in the guts of the game and tonight he was huge, I think, in the first half as well. This is another example. He goes 3-for-11, he played awesome. He was plus-29 and just tons of poking the ball away, tons of just making plays, tons of critical getting to the free throw line when we needed a couple points, and again, it looks to me like his conditioning, his physical activity is looking better, all that stuff’s still coming. Wait till he goes about 7-for-10 from 3 one of these nights. That’s coming, too.”