SIXERS NEWS

After barely beating the NBA's worst team, the New Jersey Nets, in their last game the Sixers couldn't have like their chances coming into tonight against Derick Rose and the Chicago Bulls, currently holding onto that 8th spot in the Eastern conference. Still, there they were hanging with the Bulls ,one quarter after another, refusing to let them getaway. They were actually up by 1 after the 1st quarter, down 7 at the half, and tied after 3 quarters, before pulling out to a lead midway through the 4th quarter. Eventually Chicago rallied back and the Sixers could easily have layed down at that point and taken the loss. Intead they uncharacteristically ratcheted up the defense and stayed right with Chicago until an Andre Iguodala pulled the Sixers even again at 94 all. Unfortunately, Iggy missed his next free throw and Rose came up short on a fadeway at the buzzer to send the game into overtime. The Sixer's tough defense took center stage as they held Chicago to just 9 points and pulled out the impressive 106-103 win.

The Sixer's defense really was great tonight, especially in the 2nd half. Overall they held Chicago to just 44% shooting from field and 36% shooting from beyond, while outrebounding them 43-41, blocking 7 Bull' s shots(Elton Brand and Samuel Dalembert each had 3 ) and forcing 17 Bulls turnovers. Offensively, the Sixers actually had the patience to run their offense for a change and keep the Bulls slowed down most of the night. They also had a few true scoring leaders for a change, kind of surprising considering A.I sat the night out to be with his ill daughter. The big players on this night were, Iggy with 25 points, 8 assists, and 8 rebounds, Elton Brand with 26 and 9 rebounds, and Sammy D with 10 and 13 rebounds for another double-double. At least this time foor a change the Sixers actually used Sammy's good to play fuel the win, rather than wasting it in a loss.

Even with the win over the Bulls the Sixers at 17-31 overall are still 6.5 games out of 8th in the Eastern conference. So better luck next year fellas, but thanks for the effort tonight anyway. In addition to the Sixer's top 3 performers, Lou Williams and Willie Green also scored in double figures. It's taken over half the season for them to get it, but tonight was officially the Sixer's first overtime win of the season thus far. Who knows maybe it will finally help them turn the corner and make a surprise run to the playoffs. It still seems unlikey though that they'll go anywhere this season, whether they want to or not.