Sixers sizzle again by slamming Suns
Posted: Mon Feb 9 9:36 PM
Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Thaddeus Young deposited 25 points and rookie Marreese Speights scored a career-high 24, as the Philadelphia 76ers cruised to a relatively easy 108-91 victory over the Phoenix Suns.
The Sixers have won three straight since being struck with the news that offseason acquisition Elton Brand will miss the rest of the season with a torn labrum in his right shoulder.
Speights, who figures to see extended time with Brand's injury, shot 11-of-16 from the floor to go with seven rebounds on his career night. Andre Iguodala finished with 22 points and seven assists, and Andre Miller filled the stat sheet with seven points, nine boards and six helpers for the victors.
Phoenix had won three of four entering play, but was coming off a hard-fought 107-97 triumph at Detroit on Sunday. Steve Nash, who had 21 assists against the Pistons, logged just two points with eight helpers against the Sixers.
"We just didn't have it through stretches there," Suns head coach Terry Porter said. "Give Philly a lot of credit. They came out and they bothered us quite a bit with their athleticism, getting some steals and getting out in the open court. We just didn't have any energy."
Amare Stoudemire tallied a team-high 19 points, while Jason Richardson ended with 16. Shaquille O'Neal was held in check with just seven points and 10 boards in defeat.
Young's 14 points sparked the hosts to a 30-25 edge after 12 minutes.
Speights scored eight straight points at one juncture in the second frame. A pair of buckets came from hook shots, one off an alley-oop pass from Lou Williams and the last on a pull-up jumper for a 49-35 Sixers lead around the five-minute mark.
The Suns had 12 turnovers in the first half and were behind 55-44 at the break. The visitors cleaned up their mistakes in the third quarter but couldn't keep Philly from scoring at will, eventually trailing 80-66 with 12 minutes left.
Phoenix rested most of its starters in the fourth, and the Suns' reserves never cut their deficit into single digits.
"Another good win for us. We're trying to build and that was some momentum that we can build on," Sixers head coach Tony DiLeo said. "We knew [the Suns] played last night so we wanted to come out and run and hopefully wear them down, and I think we did a good job of that." Game Notes
Brand, who averaged a career-low 13.8 points in 29 games this season, had successful surgery on his injured shoulder on Monday...The Sixers, who are 4-2 on a seven-game homestand, made 24-of-28 from the foul line, while the Suns made 16-of-20 at the stripe...Williams scored 11 points..The Suns ended with 18 turnovers...Nash shot 1-for-8 from the field for Phoenix, which was outrebounded, 54-41.
