Sixers Down Nets to End Skid

Just when the luster of the Sixers season started to wear off with a recent two game losing streak, they regrouped and downed the New Jersey Nets 108-99. The Sixers led for most of the game, but every time they started to pull away, the Nets fought right back. Down the stretch, the Nets cut the lead down to 2 and looked poised to steal a victory when Louis Williams hit three straight shots, two of them threes, to put the game away for Philly. The win pulls the Sixers to within a half game of the idle Wizards and Raptors for the 5th seed in the East.

There were several solid individual performances from most of the usual suspects. Andre Miller found his scoring touch after a few off nights and netted 24 points to go with 11 assists. Andre Iguodala had a solid all-around game, picking up 17 points, 10 assists and 6 rebounds.

Samuel Dalembert had one of his more impressive performances of the season, picking up 15 points, 13 boards and 5 blocks. He was active all night, getting to loose balls and creating havoc on the defensive end. His blocks led to several easy baskets for the Sixers, including the play highlighted in the clip below. In the clip, Dalembert blocks a Nenad Krstic shot into the hands of Miller, who passes ahead to Iguodala. Iguodala bounces the ball behind his back as he takes it to the hoop, where he throws it down with authority and gets fouled. Iguodala missed the free throw for the three point play, but the sequence is a microcosm of everything the Sixers have been doing right. They have been making solid defensive plays to set up their fast-break offense, where they are using great court vision to find the open player who finishes with a high percentage shot. It's everything that has made them exciting over their last 30 games.

Clip courtesy of Comcast Sportsnet