SIXERS NEWS

The Sixers at last finished off their west coast road trip tonight in Portland in a thriller with the Blazers. Coming in only 6 teams could claim wins at the Rose Garden, and the chances of the Sixers ,playing on back to back nights, of joining those ranks were slim. Thanks to sheer guts and determination the Sixers beat the odds and toughed out a win, to finish the road trip 3-2. Andre Iguodala and Thaddeus Young each had 25, and Andre Miller dropped 27 to fuel the Sixers offense, which was red hot again at 51% from the field. Defensively, it was a team effort, and a good one in the first half, and good when it needed to be in the 2nd half, but mostly Portland just had a poor shooting night, and made some bad decisions at the wrong the times. The Sixers came out firing early, shooting nearly 80% at one point in the first quarter, but the incredible offensive rebounding of the Blazers kept the Sixers from pulling away, and they could only take a 14 point lead into the half, with the score 58-44. In the 3rd quarter it was Portland who came out firing, as they seemed poised to steal the game away from the Sixers. Somehow, the Sixers managed to slow things down enough to withstand the charge, even after Rudy Fernandez went off for 8 points early in the 4th quarter to put Portland back ahead. Thanks to clutch free throws down the stretch by Andre Iguodala, and perfect defense by Royal Ivey against Brandon Roy, as his buzzer beater fell short, the Sixers managed to force overtime. There Sammy Dalembert blocked Roy late in the period, and then Roy turned it over on the next Portland possession to finally allow the Sixers to push ahead for good. Finally after sinking their free throws down the stretch the Sixers had hung on for an impressive 114-108 win. So the Sixers move to 36-33 overall, but remain 6th in the Eastern conference, 1.5 games behind the 5th Heat.