Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Sixers solve Wizards behind Holiday, Williams

Philadelphia - Jrue Holiday and Lou Williams combined for 52 points as the Sixers returned home from a grueling eight-game, 18-day road trip to best the woeful Washington Wizards, 109-97, in front of 12,434 at Wells Fargo Center.

Holiday continued his strong play of late by depositing 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting and dishing out nine assists, while Williams came off the bench to make 7-of-10 shots and pour in 26 points in just 26 minutes of action.

"I just had a good rhythm tonight," Williams said. "I had an awful game down in New Orleans and I kind of wanted to get that bad taste out of my mouth, and really exert myself and come out and play a good game tonight."

Holiday, the Sixers' second-year point guard, has scored 20-plus points in four of his last six games and is averaging 21.2 points on 56.0 percent shooting over that span.

"I was just being agressive," Holiday said of his play tonight. "Getting into the paint. I think that is one of the biggest things. If I get inside, I can get other guys shots as well as myself."

Elton Brand added 17 points and made a couple of key jumpers in the fourth quarter as the Sixers shot a season-high 56.7 percent in the game and outscored Washington 33-22 in the final frame.

Thaddeus Young chipped in with 11 points and Andres Nocioni, starting again in place of the injured Andre Iguodala, recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds as Philadelphia avenged a pair of heartbreaking overtime
losses earlier this season in the nation's capital.

"Needless to say its nice to beat Washington," Sixers coach Doug Collins, who is battling the onset of the flu, said.

Spencer Hawes did start despite a balky back and contributed four points. Meanwhile, Marreese Speights has one of his best games of the season, netting eight points and seven rebounds in 16 economical minutes.

Nick Young had 21 points for the Wizards, who remained the NBA's only winless team on the road at 0-17. John Wall, the No. 1 overall pick in last June's draft, finished with 18 points and matched his career-high with 14 assists.

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