Saturday, October 31, 2009

Sixers top Bucks in home opener

By Steve Cwitkowitz

Andre Iguodala scored a game-high 19 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out seven assists, as the Philadelphia 76ers captured their 2009-10 home-opener with a 99-86 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

Elton Brand finished with 17 points, while Samuel Dalembert had a strong game with 10 points and 12 boards for the 76ers, who were coming off a season- opening 120-106 loss at Orlando on Wednesday. The win marks the first for new Philadelphia head coach Eddie Jordan, who was hired to replace interim coach Tony DiLeo in the offseason.

"It was a gutsy, gut it out type win," Jordan said. "Samuel (Dalembert) defended the rim, Andre (Iguodala) did a nice job of taking over late and Lou (Williams) was the quarterback."

Lou Williams and Thaddeus Young ended with 16 and 13 points, respectively, for Philadelphia.

"I thought we played hard and played well," Iguodala said. "We are just trying to do things the right way and let everything else take care of itself."

Michael Redd had 17 points for the Bucks, who were playing their season-opener after missing the playoffs for a third straight year and struggling to a 34-48 record in 2008-09. Milwaukee's first round draft pick, Brandon Jennings, had a solid effort in his NBA debut with 17 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.

"People are going to pick up the stat sheet and see, rightfully so, we didn't shoot the ball well from the perimeter," said Bucks coach Scott Skiles. "We didn't shoot well from three, we didn't shoot well from the line and had too many turnovers."

The Sixers lead 23-18 after the opening quarter. However, a Redd jumper and a three-pointer sandwiched around a Ersan Ilyasova layup with nearly 7 1/2 minutes to play in the half ignited Milwaukee on an 18-6 run and a 40-36 advantage with just under three minutes left.

Both teams traded baskets and free throws in the remaining time and the Bucks held a 47-41 edged heading into the break.

Philadelphia came out of the locker room, and behind some tight defense went on a 12-4 burst to start the third, grabbing a 53-51 lead with 7:23 to play in the quarter. The Sixers made 19-of-20 free throws in the stanza and led by a 76-67 margin after three. Iguodala and Brand each went for eight points apiece in the quarter, when the Bucks struggled by going 6-of-22 from the field.

Jason Kapono hit from beyond the arc early in the fourth and the Sixers were up by double-digits. The Bucks used a 9-0 run near the midway point starting with an Ilyasova three, eventually cutting the deficit to 88-83 with a shade under five minutes to go. Kapono then stepped up and hit another triple, this time from the left corner and the hosts regained a double-figure lead after a 10-0 surge.

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