SIXERS NEWS

After their 3rd consecutive loss last night the Sixers traveled to Toronto looking to avenge their opening night loss to the Raptors and find some answers. They were able to do so and more. At last Elton Brand seemed to find his place in the Sixer's offense draining mid range jumpers for a game high 25 points, when he wasn't running floor and playing defense with 3 blocks, a steal, and 8 rebounds. It wasn't just Brand who made the difference tonight though. Willie Green with 17 points and 9 assists and the rookie Maurice Speights with 12 and 7 rebounds help to ignite a solid night for the Sixer bench. Andre Iguodala nearly amassed another triple double with 18 points, 10 assists, and 9 rebounds, and the other Andre, Andre Miller chipped in with 18 points. As a team the Sixers appeared significantly improved as well on both sides of the ball. Offensively, they shot 53% from the field, 54% from beyond the arc with 6 threes, and ripped off 30 assists to just 13 turnovers. Defensively they may have shown their most improvement, with 6 blocks, 8 steals, and the usual glass ruling 40 rebounds. In short they looked like the team everyone expected them to be this season and the team we ought to see from now on, if they expect to go anywhere this season. Getting back to the game, the Sixers actually jumped out early for once sprinting to a 13 point lead after a quarter of play with the score 26-13. In the 2nd quarter Toronto woke up, perhaps too late, rallying to cut the lead to 6 by the half with the score 51-45. In the 3rd quarter the Sixers held firm to the lead, staying ahead by 7, with the score 78-71. In the 4th quarter they did likewise, eventually hanging on to win by 10 with the final score 106-96. So the Sixers improve to 3-5 overall which is okay for the moment, but they're going to have figure out a way to keep it up for once, and it will be interesting to see if they can.