SIXERS NEWS

The Sixers continued their road trip in Phoenix tonight against the new look Suns. Most nights the Sixers rely on their defense to keep things close and then they try to pull it out at the end. Tonight was not one of those nights. The defense was okay in this one and that's really all it needed to be in an old fashioned shootout. It simply came down who got the most shots and who made the most. On the both counts it was the Sixers who out rebounded the Suns 46-31, and shot 54% from the field, while the Suns hit just 49% of their field goal attempts. In all, 7 Sixers scored in double figures as the team exploded for a season best 123 points, and that's with Andre Iguodala in street clothes. Jrue Holiday led the way with 25 and 7 assists, while Andres Nocioni, who started in place of Iggy, had 22 and 12 rebounds, Elton Brand had 16 and 7 rebounds, Spencer Hawes had 10 and 11 rebounds, and off the bench Thad Young had 15 and 8 rebounds, Lou Williams had 10, and Evan Turner had his best night as a pro with 23 and 5 rebounds.

Neither team could miss early on as the teams combined for 68 points in the first quarter and the Suns grabbed a 35-33 lead. In the 2nd quarter the two teams racked up another 63 points but it was the Sixers who grabbed a 1 point halftime lead. In the 3rd quarter the Sixers finally slowed things done and used solid defense to take a 6 point lead into the 4th quarter. It was more of the same in the 4th quarter as the Sixers used some defense to extend to a 13 point lead before cruising to an important 123-110 win. They now move to 3-3 on the trip with 2 games left and at 13-19 overall jump up to 8th in the East. Believe it.