SIXERS NEWS

The Sixers celebrated Martin Luther King day by welcoming the Indiana Pacers and old Sixers' head coach Jim O'brien to the Wachovia center for an afternoon matinee. From the beginning Indiana began drilling three pointers, and just never stopped, and despite yet another late surge the Sixers fell short. Offensively, four Sixers scored in double figures( Andre Miller, Andre Iguodala, Thaddeus Young, Louis Williams) with Iggy's 23 leading the way. Defensively, Samuel Dalembert led the way again with 9 rebounds and 2 blocks, as the Sixers out rebounded Indiana 44-38. Unfortunately, that was once again more because of Indiana's hot shooting, than because of the Sixers out muscling the Pacers on the boards, as Indiana shot over 50% from the field and from beyond the arc, drilling 14 three pointers. In the first quarter of play, the Pacers jumped out to an early 32-19 lead on the heels of 5 three pointers. The 2nd quarter was closer, but the Sixers could only trade baskets and actually fell further behind heading into the half(14 pts, 63-49). In the 3rd quarter the Sixers finally made some middling inroads, cutting the lead to 11, with the score 90-79. In the 4th quarter, the Sixers made their usual late surge cutting the lead all the way down to 5 with 39 seconds to play, before the Pacers hit their free throws and hung on to win 110-103. So the Sixers drop to 16-26 overall, but remain in 4th place in the Atlantic division.