Williams Leads 76ers' Romp Over Bulls

[March 27, 2008]  PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Lou Williams scored 23 points and Andre Miller had a season-high 18 assists in the Philadelphia 76ers' 121-99 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night.

The Sixers dominated early and led by 22 in the first half en route to their 19th victory in their last 24 games.

Philadelphia -- 18-30 on Feb. 4 and seemingly out of the Eastern Conference playoff picture -- somehow has the fifth seed in its reach. The Sixers (37-35) are two games over .500 for the first time all season, have won 11 of 12 at home and are 11-2 in March to charge up the East standings.

Miller failed to score a field goal until late in third period, but made up for the missing baskets by leading the fast break and finding the open man. In the first quarter, he fired an overhead pass to a streaking Andre Iguodala in the lane and the swingman finished with a thunderous one-handed dunk.

Thaddeus Young quickly followed with a left-handed layup in transition and the crowd erupted heading into a timeout. It was only late in the first quarter, but the rout was already on and the fans were rocking the Wachovia Center.

The Sixers, who spent most of the season near the bottom of the attendance standings, played in front of their fifth straight crowd of at least 18,000 fans.

Iguodala scored 21 points and Young had 20. The Sixers outscored Chicago 30-2 in fast-break points.

The Sixers keep finding new ways to win and they got this one without much scoring from Miller and Samuel Dalembert. When the Sixers led 48-33 in the second quarter, Dalembert was scoreless and Miller had one free throw. The only blemish came on Iguodala's performance from the free-throw line, a miserable 3-for-9 effort.

The Sixers went on an 11-0 run to lead 65-49 at the break.

Thabo Sefolosha led the Bulls with 20 points, Kirk Hinrich had 18 and Andres Nocioni 16.

Drew Gooden, who scored a season-high 31 points and matched a season best with 16 rebounds in the Bulls' 103-94 victory over Atlanta on Tuesday night, was held to two points and eight rebounds.

The Bulls rallied a bit in the third and cut the deficit to eight points twice, each time on Hinrich's baskets.

Rodney Carney answered with a 3-pointer, Williams hit a 3 and the Sixers romped in the fourth, falling three points shy of matching their season-high point total.

Notes: The 76ers have scored 110-plus points seven times over the last 18 games after doing so three times in the first 54 games. ... The Sixers won the season series for the first time since 2003-04.

[Associated Press; By DAN GELSTON]

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