SIXERS NEWS

When you are 13-28 at the halfway point of the season, something is obviously not working. A piece of the puzzle is out of place somewhere, or you're missing something. Eddie Jordan decided to move some pieces around tonight, inserting Elton Brand and Jrue Holiday into the starting lineup in place of Lou Williams and Thad Young and ultimately the move payed off. With the pressure of starting removed form their shoulders Young and Williams both performed well. Young was actually the leading scorer in the game with 22 points and Williams brought a little energy everywhere with 11 points, 5 assists, and 6 rebounds. Meanwhile, Brand who also put up 10 points, and Holiday helped lock up the Mavs vaunted scorers, holding them to just 81 on only 39% shooting from the field. Moreover, the Mavs shot just 20% from beyond the arc, with 3 threes, and Dirk Nowitzki only put up 15 points. You just can't player defense against the Mavs then that.

Thanks to the sterling defense the Sixers were able to take a 6 point, 54-48 lead into the half. In 3rd quarter that saw the Mavs held to 12 points, they were abel up the lead to 12. Finally in the 4th quarter they held off all attempts by the Mavs to make a late charge and hung on to win 92-81. Isn't funny how a little D goes a long way sometimes. Of course there also a decent amount of O as well, with AI and Mo Speights also scoring in double figures, but as they say, its the defense that wins you championships and in this case games. Eddie Jordan says he'll stick to this lineup until the all-star break and the Sixers need to stick to this D not just to the all-star break but for the remainder of the season if they still hope to make the playoffs and do anything significant this season.

With this win the Sixers, now 14-28, are a perfect 5-0 when they hold their opponents under 90 points. Samuel Dalembert's double double streak ended tonight as he compiled just 4 points and 10 rebounds. It's still remarkable though that he was able to put together that streak in the wake of the devastation in his homeland. Currently the Sixers sit 5.5 games out of 8th in the Eastern conference so there is still a slim hope for them to make the playoffs, but they're going to have to put together some kind of run at some point. So far they haven't proven they can do so but I guess we'll see.