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March 30, 2007

Celtics fall to Sixers

Kyle Korver scored 26 points, helping the Philadelphia 76ers avoid a second-half collapse and beat the Boston Celtics 88-82 on Friday night.

Korver made four 3-pointers, his final one snapping a 73-all tie with 5:06 left after the Celtics had rallied from a 15-point second-half deficit.

Andre Iguodala had 23 points and 12 assists, while Samuel Dalembert added 12 points and 13 rebounds for Philadelphia.

Al Jefferson scored 20 points for the Celtics, who played without leading scorer Paul Pierce (left elbow soreness). The Celtics (22-50) are 2-23 this season without Pierce, who earlier missed 24 games with a left foot stress reaction.

Korver's tiebreaking 3-pointer came seconds after Boston's Delonte West went coast-to-coast for a layup. Jefferson followed with a jumper that got the Celtics back within 76-75 before another bucket by Korver and a powerful dunk by Iguodala gave Philadelphia (29-43) some breathing room.

The Sixers held a slim early lead, as Iguodala had seven points and five assists in the first quarter. Louis Williams drained a 3-pointer from the corner to beat the buzzer and Philadelphia led 25-20 after one.

A pair of dunks by Iguodala, one off a pretty alley-oop from Louis Williams, keyed a 14-2 Philadelphia run as the 76ers took control midway through the second period and built a 44-31 lead at halftime.

Boston shot 3-for-16 in the second quarter (19 percent) and made just one field goal over the final 10:37 of the first half. Korver finished with 14 first-half points, while Iguodala added 11 points with seven assists.

A pair of free throws by Iguodala gave the Sixers a 67-52 lead with 1:37 left in the third quarter, but Boston scored the final six points of the period and carried the momentum into the fourth quarter. Leon Powe's free throws with 7:19 left in the game capped an 18-3 Celtics run and tied the score at 70.

--ASSOCIATED PRESS

Posted by Corey Bourassa  at 9:33 PM to Celtics | Permalink

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