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 Guard Gerald Green scored a season-high 30 points and backcourt
partner Goran Dragic added 24 for the Suns, who shot 77.3 percent
from the field in the first quarter while outscoring the Sixers
40-26, then fought off Philadelphia the rest of the way.
Phoenix (26-18) posted its highest-scoring first quarter of the
season.
Green made 10 of 12 shots from the floor and Dragic hit nine of 13.
The Suns, who rallied from an 18-point halftime deficit to win in
Cleveland on Sunday, shot 53.8 percent from the field in
Philadelphia and equaled their season high for points.
"Last night we felt like we needed to start off games faster," Green
said, "so we told ourselves we just wanted to come and give
ourselves a little lead in the first half."
Added Suns coach Jeff Hornacek, "I think we learned a little bit
last night from our first half, when we just kind of went out there
and played. Second half we played better and said, 'Let's carry this
over into tonight's game.' The guys did it right from the start."
Forward P.J. Tucker added 15 points for Phoenix. Center Miles
Plumlee contributed 14 points and 13 rebounds, and forward Markieff
Morris had 13 points off the bench. Morris also had four of the
Suns' season-high 12 blocked shots, and Green added three.
Guard Michael Carter-Williams had 22 points and 11 assists for
Philadelphia, which lost for the sixth time in seven games. Forwards
Thaddeus Young and Evan Turner had 21 points each, and center
Spencer Hawes had 18.
The Sixers (14-31) never led. They mounted their last challenge
midway through the fourth quarter, reeling off seven straight points — including a three-point play by Young — to cut a 15-point
deficit to 104-96 with 5:44 to play.
With the gap still 108-100, Tucker triggered a 10-2 run with a
follow shot. Green added the last eight Phoenix points in that
flurry, on a 3-pointer, a thunderous dunk and another 3-pointer.
That gave the Suns a 118-102 lead with 2:11 to play.
"It felt good for me," Green said. "I just kind of let the game come
to me, just kind of took what the defense gave me. My teammates were
doing a good job screening for me, getting me open, finding me in
transition."
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After Tucker opened the game's scoring by driving the baseline for a
layup, Sixers coach Brett Brown called a timeout just 25 seconds
into the game. It didn't help. Phoenix made its next five shots as
well, and nine of 10 from the floor to open a 21-9 lead.
When someone suggested to Brown afterward that it didn't seem his
team was committed to defense at the beginning of the game, he said,
"That's because we weren't."
By the end of the first quarter, Dragic and Green were each 5-for-5
from the field for 12 points, helping the Suns establish a 14-point
lead. Phoenix's marksmanship was the best by a Philadelphia opponent
in any quarter this season, and the point total equaled the highest
by a Sixers foe in a first quarter.
"Any time you let a team jump out on you," Young said, "it's going
to be hard to recoup that."
The Suns led 62-48 late in the second quarter before Turner scored
the last six points of the half.
Dragic finished the half with 15 points, and Green had 14. Turner
paced the Sixers with 13 first-half points.
Phoenix re-established a double-figure lead early in the third
quarter and maintained it most of the quarter. The Suns scored the
last five points of the third, three of those by Tucker, to build a
13-point bulge heading into the fourth quarter.
NOTES: Earlier in the day, the Sixers sent rookie G Lorenzo Brown to
the Delaware 87ers of the Developmental League for the fourth time
this season. Brown had 12 points and 10 assists while playing nearly
30 minutes in Delaware's 99-87 victory over the Austin Toros — a 10
a.m. start — then returned to the Sixers and played the final five
seconds of the game. He said it was like "AAU all over again." ...
Suns coach Jeff Hornacek played 132 games for the Sixers between
1992 and 1994, 86 of them losses, after arriving from Phoenix in a
trade involving All-Star forward Charles Barkley. "Even though we
weren't a great team, every night you could just feel the emotions
in the city. That was fun," Hornacek said. ... Sixers coach Brett
Brown called Hall of Famer Tom Gola, who died Sunday at age 81, "one
of the icons." Gola, a native Philadelphian who starred (and
coached) at La Salle University, also fashioned a 10-year NBA career
that included time with the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors. ...
Suns G Eric Bledsoe (right knee arthroscopy) missed his 13th
consecutive game. ... Philadelphia coach Brett Brown, F Thaddeus
Young and F Evan Young were all assessed technical fouls.
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