Saturday, January 17, 2009
Sports NewsMayfield's Mutterings: Illini adventure continues

76ers beat Spurs to win sixth straight

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[January 17, 2009]  PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Thaddeus Young scored a career-high 27 points, Andre Iguodala had 21 and the surging Philadelphia 76ers won their sixth straight game, 109-87 over the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night.

The Sixers (19-20) can move to .500 for the first time since Nov. 24 with a win Saturday at New York. They might finally have power forward Elton Brand (shoulder) back in the lineup for the first time since December.

HardwareAcademy Award-winner Jamie Foxx was in the house. World Series champions Jimmy Rollins and Jayson Werth also stopped by to watch the 76ers extend the longest winning streak in the NBA.

The Sixers surprisingly pulled away late against the Southwest Division-leading Spurs, and they put on quite a show at the buzzer for their famous guests. Iguodala hit a 28-footer to end the first quarter, a 44-footer to end the first half and Lou Williams buried a 28-footer to end the third.

The Spurs were the fourth team with a winning record the Sixers beat on this streak, proving that they might be ready to make some noise in the Eastern Conference. The Spurs won 108-106 on a buzzer-beater in San Antonio on Jan. 3 to end Philadelphia's 1-5 road trip.

The Sixers haven't lost since.

Iguodala is playing some of the best basketball of his career in Brand's absence, and the Sixers will need to find a way for the swingman to keep getting his touches.

Misc

Samuel Dalembert completed an alley-oop, then a regular dunk in the third for a 13-point lead. Iguodala followed with a sweet baseline spin move around Bruce Bowen and finished the play with a reverse dunk for a 75-59 lead.

With the crowd yelling for the Sixers to get the ball to Iguodala as the final seconds ticked off the quarter, Williams dribbled his own defensive rebound down to the first seat of San Antonio's bench and let it fly. Bang! Three buzzer beaters and an 85-70 lead.

The Sixers carried that momentum in the fourth and used a 12-0 run to lead by a staggering 26 points.

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Williams finished with 14 and rookie Marreese Speights had 13. Young made eight straight shots in one stretch from the floor, with the final bucket making it 64-53.

Tim Duncan led the Spurs with 20 points and Matt Bonner had 13.

Sure, the Sixers are playing tight defense, but it's the offense that's sparked the turnaround. Coach Tony DiLeo wants his team to score off the break and shoot 3s. The 76ers did both nearly flawlessly. The outscored San Antonio 30-6 on the break and were 8-for-14 on 3 pointers. Iguodala, Williams and Royal Ivey each hit two.

Notes:@ Foxx is in Philadelphia shooting the movie "Law Abiding Citizen." ... Miller said he planned to attend President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration on Tuesday. ... The Spurs signed veteran forward Austin Croshere to a 10-day contract.

[Associated Press; By DAN GELSTON]

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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