SIXERS NEWS

A day after their worst loss in some time, the Sixers rebounded nicely in Boston as they nearly ended the Celtics 13 game winning streak, but again it wasn't to be. Elton Brand led the way offensively, with 16 and 12 rebounds, but fouled out. Jrue Holiday also added 15 and 5 assists, and Lou Williams and Tony Battie were big off the bench, with 12 and 10 respectively. The Sixers struggled again from beyond at just 20%, but were much better from the field overall at 43%. They also got to the line an important 33 times, but killed themselves when they got there, by only shooting 71%, and that was ultimately the difference. Just 10% better from the line and the Sixers probably would have pulled this one out. If the Sixers had pulled this one out it would have been because their terrific defense, which limited Boston to just 38% from the field while forcing them into 10 turnovers. Most notably Iggy, did a pretty good job against Paul Pierce, limiting him to just 11 points.

Early on despite their poor shooting, Boston had the advantage with a 6 point lead after a quarter of play, as the Sixers struggled to get going. The Sixers totally turned things around in the 2nd quarter, as they took a 6 point lead into the half. Boston came out firing in the 3rd quarter as they roared back to go up by 3 heading into the 4th quarter. The Sixers did not go away though as the game stayed tight throughout the 4th quarter. With 14 seconds left the Sixers were down 2 with the ball, but Andre Iguodala was blocked and seemingly fouled as he tried to lay in the tying basket. No whistled sounded though and after Ray Allen made a couple free throws and Andres Nocioni bricked a trey, the Sixers had been nipped by the Celtics again, 84-80. We'll get them next time.