Allen Iverson Biography, Picture, Photo

GAME: Philadelphia 76ers (22-21) at Orlando Magic (18-23).

TIME: Sunday, 6 p.m. EST.

The Philadelphia 76ers responded to Allen Iverson's first absence of the season with a concerted defensive effort.

They'll have to do it again without the NBA's second-leading scorer when they visit the Orlando Magic.

Iverson, second in the NBA with 33.6 points per game, missed Saturday's 91-76 win over New York with a sprained left ankle. The superstar guard will not make the trip to Florida.

``Allen is one of the few guys that can tolerate a lot of pain,'' 76ers coach Maurice Cheeks said. ``If Allen can't play, you know he's really, really hurt.''

Iverson has scored 40 points against the Magic four times in his career, including a career-high 60-point effort on Feb. 12 in Philadelphia.

Without Iverson, the 76ers allowed their fewest points of the season as they won for the fourth time in five games.

``Everyone had to raise their game a little higher and I thought everyone did,'' Cheeks said.

Philadelphia is 39-58 in Iverson's career when he misses a game.

The Sixers started Kevin Ollie in his place and the journeyman had six points and five assists. John Salmons helped pick up the slack by nearly recording a triple-double with 10 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

``We knew it was going to be a struggle on offense, but we had to execute plays and we had to share the ball,'' Salmons said. ``We did a good job of that.''

The win combined with New Jersey's loss at Seattle pulled the Sixers within one-half game of the first-place Nets in the Atlantic Division.

Orlando had its five-game winning streak snapped with a 97-94 loss at New York on Friday. Steve Francis scored a season-high 36 points for the Magic, who fell behind by 25 points and saw their late rally fall short.

``We fell too far in the first half and we really didn't have enough energy to really compete with those guys,'' Francis said. ``Tonight it was unfortunate that we had a bad first half and we weren't able to recover.''

Francis tied a season-low when he scored 11 points Thursday in the Magic's 119-105 over the Sixers in Philadelphia.

The Magic have won three straight home meetings with the Sixers, including both matchups last season. Second-year forward Dwight Howard averaged 16.6 points and 9.5 rebounds in the two wins for Orlando.

STANDINGS: 76ers - 2nd place, 1/2 GB, Atlantic Division. Magic - 3rd place, 6 1/2 GB, Southeast Division.

PROBABLE STARTERS: 76ers - F Salmons, F Chris Webber, C Samuel Dalembert, G Andre Iguodala, G Ollie. Magic - F Howard, F Hedo Turkoglu, C Tony Battie, G Francis, G DeShawn Stevenson.

TEAM LEADERS: 76ers - Iverson, 33.6 ppg and 7.5 apg; Dalembert, 10.2 rpg. Magic - Hill, 16.8 ppg; Howard, 12.6 rpg; Francis, 5.7 apg.

SEASON SERIES: Magic, 1-0.

LAST MEETING: Thursday; Magic, 119-115 (OT). At Philadelphia, Pat Garrity sank a pair of 3-pointers to start the scoring in overtime and scored a season-high 24 points as Orlando won its fifth straight.

ROAD/HOME RECORDS: 76ers - 7-13 on the road; Magic - 12-9 at home.

~This will be interesting~

Posted by Jay Midnyte on Sunday, January 29, 2006 at 5:13 PM | Permalink
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