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Sixers hold off Bucks; Brand injures shoulder

Dec 18, 2008 - 4:21 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia 76ers played well without Elton Brand last season. They did again Wednesday.

Louis Williams scored 25 points off the bench as the 76ers posted a 93-88 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks despite an injury to Brand, the team's star forward.

Andre Miller scored 19 points for the 76ers, who lost Brand to a dislocated right shoulder midway through the third quarter.

Brand was upended and sent airborne by Bucks rookie forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who then fell on the former All-Star, jamming his shoulder into the ground.

He scored just four points before his departure with 7:23 left in the third, when Milwaukee forged a six-point lead heading into the final period.

But without their star player, the Sixers outscored the Bucks, 26-15, in the final 12 minutes to secure the victory. Philadelphia took the lead for good with 3:23 left, when Williams snapped an 88-88 tie with a steal and transition layup.

The Sixers looked more like the up-tempo squad that gave the powerhouse Detroit Pistons a stern test in the first round of the playoffs last season.

Brand signed a five-year, $80 million deal with the club during the offseason to presumably make Philadelphia an elite team in the East.

But in his first season with the Sixers, Brand already has missed some time with a right hamstring strain after sitting out all but eight games last campaign recovering from a left Achilles injury.

Luke Ridnour and Charlie Bell each scored 14 points for the Bucks, who had their brief two-game winning streak snapped.

Ridnour scored all eight points in an 8-2 run to start the third as Milwaukee matched its largest lead at 61-52.

After Thaddeus Young cut Philadelphia's deficit to 65-62 with 2:56 left in the period, Charlie Villanueva answered with a three-point play to push the Sixers' lead to 68-62.

Bell later hit a three with 1:17 to go to make it 73-63 for the Bucks, who took a six-point edge into the fourth.

Milwaukee pushed its lead to eight on two separate occasions in the second - the second of which came on Dan Gadzuric's dunk to make it 35-27.

Willie Green connected from the arc and followed with another basket that cut the lead to three for Milwaukee, which got baskets from Gadzuric and Bell to push the lead to 39-32 with 7:38 to go.

Williams scored eight points with a pair of threes in the second that pulled the Sixers within 43-42 with 5:46 to go. Williams scored all 13 of his first-half points in the second quarter.

The Bucks got a jumper by Richard Jefferson and then a dunk by Mbah a Moute to push the lead to 47-42. Mbah a Moute hit another jumper at the buzzer to give the Bucks a 53-46 lead at the half.