SIXERS NEWS

The Sixers welcomed Elton Brand's ex mates, the Clippers, to the Wachovia center tonight. The Sixers again had a subpar night, but thankfully so did the 1-8 Clippers, allowing the Sixers to pull out a much needed win. Once again, the bench struggled with just 17 points. Once again the shooting was just okay at 42% from the field and 28% from beyond the arc. This time however the defense was better, as they held the Clips to just 44% shooting from the field and got them to commit 23 turnovers, all this despite being outrebounded for about the first time all season 47-41. At any rate it was a Sixer victory so let's just savor it. Early on it was all Sixers as they jumped out to a 12 point lead after a quarter of play, with the score 28-16. The Clips rebounded in the 2nd quarter, rallying ahead by 3 at the half with the score, 49-46. In the 3rd quarter, the two teams simply traded baskets, and the Sixers still trailed by 4, with the score 72-68, heading into the 4th quarter. Finally in the 4th quarter the Sixers mounted a final desperate rally, and with 58 seconds left Brand drained a 15 footer to put the Sixers up for good 89-88. From there neither team could score for the remainder of regulation, as the Sixers hung on for the 89-88 win. So the Sixers improve to 6-6 overall, and maybe now they'll finally get over .500.