SIXERS NEWS

The Sixers traveled to Dallas tonight for a matchup with the Mavericks. They were hoping to avoid a 7th straight loss overall and 5th straight at Dallas. As usual they put forth a strong effort, fighting to stay with the hot shooting Mavs all night long, until they could put together another late rally which alas, fell short again. Elton Brand returned from his hamstring injury finally, and was superb with 21 and 10 rebounds, despite enjoying only a limited 24 minutes off the bench, but once he got in the game the Sixers almost couldn't take him out. Aside from Brand, Andre Iguodala had a nice night with 19 points, Willie Green got the start again at shooting guard and pumped in 23 and 8 rebounds, Thad Young added 21 and 7 rebounds, and Sammy Dalembert was large defensively, with 19 rebounds and 3 blocks. In fact the Sixers dominated the boards on the night 60-37. On the other hand they had just one other block beside's Sammy's 3 and allowed the Mavs far too many open looks. Dallas took advantage of the open to hit 10 treys, and keep the Sixer's at arms lenght most of the night. With about 5 minutes to play the Sixers finally managed to string together some defensive stops, allowing to cut into the lead, until Andre Iguodala hit a three pointer with 5 seconds to play to pull the Sixers even 102 all. Jason Terry then broke the Sixer's hearts on the next Dallas possession, as he somehow drained a 17 footer with a little over a 2nd to play. I mean Willie Green could not have defended Terry any better and he still drained it. I guess sometimes it is just not your day. Anyway the Sixers got one last chance to tie or go ahead on the final posses ion of the game, but Andre Iguodala's attempt a game winning 3 pointer, seemed to come up short, although Sammi tried unsuccessfully to guide it in. So the Sixers fell 104-102 for their 7th straight lost, but at 5-13 overall the Sixers are still within range for a turnaround as they sit just 3 games out of 8th in the East.