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Sixers bury hapless Wizards

Feb 24, 2011 - 5:25 AM Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Jrue Holiday paced a balanced attack with 20 points as Philadelphia ran away from Washington, 117-94, at Wells Fargo Center.

Thaddeus Young provided 18 points and 10 rebounds off the bench while Evan Turner contributed 15 points and eight rebounds in a reserve role for the Sixers, who have won two in a row and four out of five to move within one game (28-29) of the .500 mark after starting the season 3-13.

"Anytime we become a .500 team or above, it says a lot about where we came from or what we came through," Young said about the significance of getting to the break-even point. "We've had a lot of obstacles and a lot of different things in front of us, and we all took the steps to get here. Now, we are on one path of trying to get to the playoffs."

Elton Brand supplied 15 points and six boards and Marreese Speights came off the pine to add 14 points and seven caroms as the hosts gained a split in the four-game season series.

John Wall scored 21 points and handed out 12 assists and Andray Blatche, despite a jersey that had his name spelled incorrectly, chipped in with 16 points for the Wizards, who dropped to a woeful 1-27 away from home.

Shortly before the game was over, the Wizards announced they had traded guard Kirk Hinrich and forward Hilton Armstrong to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for guards Mike Bibby and Jordan Crawford, swingman Maurice Evans and a first- round pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.

Blatche dunked off a feed from Wall and added two foul shots to finish a 10-0 spurt to make it 24-19 Washington with 4:39 remaining in the opening period. Cartier Martin's transition trifecta completed a quarter-ending 17-5 run to make it 31-24 Washington.

Lou Williams' layup capped a 10-1 surge to put Sixers ahead for good, at 49-41, with 2:37 to play in first half. Andre Iguodala hit 1-of-2 at the line in the waning seconds to give the hosts a 54-49 edge at the intermission.

A Holiday trifecta gave the Sixers a 71-57 advantage at the halfway point of the third quarter and they built the margin to 88-64 at the end of the stanza. The Sixers made 11-of-19 from the floor in matching a season-high with 34 third period points while Washington shot just 5-for-21 in the quarter.

"We're having trouble in the third quarter," Washington head coach Flip Saunders said. "I don't know whether we have to change people. We come out and we don't seem to be loose and we don't have enough sweat. We come out and take two or three or four bad shots and can't recover."

The lead grew to as many as 36 in a non-competitive final quarter.

Game Notes

Holiday sank 8-of-12 from the floor while Turner made 6-of-11...Williams added six points and matched a season-high with seven assists in the win...Iguodala finished with 10 points, seven boards and five assists...Rookie Trevor Booker matched a career-high with 21 points in the loss while Nick Young ended with 15 points in defeat...Saunders turned 56 Wednesday.