SIXERS NEWS

After a thrilling victory over the Detroit Pistons in their last game, the Sixers traveled to Chicago tonight for an important match up with the Bulls, one of the many teams now chasing them in the standings. Early on it appeared the Sixers were going to suffer an emotional let down, following the big win over the Pistons, but after a dramatic comeback keyed by the two unlikeliest of stars, they pulled out yet another close one. Offensively, six Sixers scored in double figures(Andre Iguodala, Andre Miller, Reggie Evans, Samuel Dalembert, Rodney Carney, Louis Williams) with Iggy's 25 leading the way. Defensively, it was a total team effort and not a particularly good one until late in the second half, when they finally clamped down, and made their comeback, allowing for some misleading numbers at the end, like 43 rebounds and 7 steals. Anyway, in the first quarter of play, the Bulls jumped out to an early, but clung to only a one point lead, with the score 26-25 heading into the 2nd. In the 2nd quarter of play, Chicago got hot, and shred the Sixers defense to take a 15 point lead, with the score 58-43 at the half. In the 3rd quarter of play, the Sixers kept hustling and fighting, and trying to cut into the Chicago lead, but the Bulls just seemed to have too much, as they took a 16 point lead into the 4th quarter, with score 86-70. In the 4th quarter of play, the fighting and clawing, and hustle finally payed off for the Sixers, as Mo Cheeks did a funny thing, inserting his young players, as well as wily veteran Kevin Ollie, who pulled down two key rebounds, to fuel a comeback. It worked, as Rodney Carney drilled three, threes, and Louis Williams, playing nearly the entire 4th quarter at point guard, hit just about every shot he took. With just under 2 minutes to play, Rodney Carney's third three gave the Sixers their first lead since the beginning of the game, with the score 103-102. Louis Williams hit a layup and a floater, to twice push the lead to 3 and finally after Larry Hughes was called for a charge, with Chicago down 107-106 and 19 seconds to play, Iggy sunk two free throws, to sink the Bulls. Ben Gordon then missed a desperate jumper, and Sammy pulled down the rebound, and hit one of two free throws, to cap another thrilling 110-106 Sixers victory. So the Sixers improve to 32-34 overall, and remain 3rd in the Atlantic division and 7th in the Eastern conference, still a game behind Washington for 6th.