Friday, March 04, 2011

Iguodala's triple-double lifts Sixers over Wolves

Philadelphia - Andre Iguodala recorded his sixth career triple-double as the Sixers outlasted the Minnesota Timberwolves, 111-100, in front of 12,008 at Wells Fargo Center.

Iguodala played a brilliant all-around game, finishing with 22 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds for his second triple-double of the 2010-11 season. The swingman shot 7-of-13 from the field, 2-for-4 from long range and a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe while playing excellent defense for much of the night against a much larger player, the Wolves' Michael Beasley.

Elton Brand added 21 points for the Sixers, who bounced back from a loss to red-hot Dallas on Tuesday in the opener of a three-game homestand. Thaddeus Young came off the bench to score 16 points and snare eight rebounds for Philadelphia while Jodie Meeks and Lou Williams each contributed 12 points. Rookie Evan Turner was the final Sixers player in double figures with 10 points.

"We found a way to dig it out," Sixers coach Doug Collins said. "Dre was spectacular. We lacked energy at the start and I thought our bench came in and gave us a lot of juice."

Kevin Love paced the Timberwolves with his NBA season-record 49th consecutive double-double with 21 points and 23 rebounds, his 10th 20-20 game of the season. The All-Star is now just two games short of Moses Malone's NBA record of 51 double-doubles set back in 1977-78 and 1978-79 seasons.

Nikola Pekovic, Minnesota's starting center, netted a career-high 16 points in just 14 minutes of action but had just one rebound, while Beasley had 15 points but needed 15 shots to do it for the Wolves, who fell to a miserable 5-26 on the road.

The Sixers, who have won five of six and are now 31-30 on the season, will finish a three-game homestand against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday.

Six Shots:

*With the win tonight the Sixers swept the season series with the Wolves for the first time since 2005-06.

*Both of Iguodala's triple-doubles have came in the past six games after not having one since March 7, 2007.

*Meeks had made at least two three-pointers in 13 of his past 16 games.

*Minnesota's Wesley Johnson missed the game with food poisoning.

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