Friday, March 11, 2011

Sixers top Boston in front of packed Wells Fargo Center

Philadelphia - Andre Iguodala flirted with another triple-double and made a huge driving layup over Kevin Garnett with 12.8 seconds to go to lift the Sixers over Boston, 89-86, in front of a sellout crowd of 20,614 at Wells Fargo Center.

Iguodala finished with 13 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for the Sixers, who bounced back from Wednesday's overtime loss to the Thunder and have won four of five overall. Elton Brand and Spencer Hawes both finished with 14 points while Jodie Meeks added 12 points and Jrue Holiday posted nine
points and seven assists for the victors.

"Dre made a great drive. That's my guy," Sixers coach Doug Collins said of Iguodala. "I am going to put it in his hands and ride him down the stretch."

Jeff Green paced the Celtics with 18 points in a reserve role while Nenad Krstic added 16 points and a career-high tying 15 rebounds for Boston, the top team in the Eastern Conference at 46-17 and a club which had won seven straight and nine of the last ten trips to Philadelphia.

Green and Krstic are both relatively new to the Celtics as they were a part of the Kendrick Perkins to Oklahoma City deal at the trade deadline. Kevin Garnett added 14 points while Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce scored 12 and 11 points, respectively, in the loss.

"Doc [Rivers] is arguably the best coach in the league," Collins said. "They are terrific defensively. They make you work for everything. Tonight, we got defensive stops and did what we had to do to get a tough win."

Ray Allen had a season-low five points on 2-of-11 shooting for Boston.

"We never established anything," Rivers said. "We had no rhythm. We just tried to do things on our own. We are usually the team that executes at the end but we were trying to get something out of nothing."

SIX SHOTS:

*This was just the second time Hawes has led the Sixers in scoring this season. Philly is 10-3 when he scores 10-or-more points.

*Over the last 10 games Iguodala is averaging 14.5 points, 8.3 assists and 7.8 rebounds.

*This was the third sellout of the season joining the home opener against Miami (20,389) and a Dec. 17 game against the LA Lakers (20,366). Wednesday's game against Oklahoma City was just shy with 19,283 in the Big House.

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