SIXERS NEWS

Coming into tonight the Sixers had put together an impressive start to a five game homestand, with three wins in a row. However, tonight's game presented the ultimate test in Dirk Novitzki and the Dallas Mavericks, who came in with the 3rd best record in the Western Conference, which says alot in a conference where the top 10 teams each have a winning percentage of .550 or better. Thus, the Sixers' modest winning streak figured to end tonight. Fortunately, someone forgot to tell that to Sixers. Offensively, four Sixers scored in double figures(Andre Iguodala, Andre Miller, Willie Green, Louis Williams) with Miller's 21 leading the way. Defensively, it was another strong team effort as the Sixers kept it close on the boards(although the Mavs out rebounded them 46-43) and held Dallas to just 35% shooting from the field and only 26% shooting from beyond the arc, despite jacking up 23 threes. So maybe the Mavs overlooked this one, or maybe they didn't, in any case the Sixers got the job done when they had too to pull out the surprising victory. Through the first quarter of play Dallas held a slim 2 point lead with the score 25-23. In the second quarter, rather than pushing farther ahead Dallas simply coasted and maintained their lead with the score, 53-50 at the half. In the 3rd quarter, the Sixers finally pushed ahead and forged a 4 point lead, with the score 70-66 heading into the 4th. Finally, in the 4th quarter the Mavs continued their poor lackadaisical play and the Sixers eventually held on to win by 8, 84-76. So the Sixers improve to 22-30, but remain in 4th place in the Atlantic division, .5 games behind the Nets.