• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Korver leads Sixers past Hornets

Jan 24, 2007 - 4:54 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia 76ers feasted on one of the few opponents it has had success against.

Kyle Korver scored 25 points and made four late free throws as the Sixers held on for a 102-96 victory over the New Orleans Hornets.

Andre Iguodala added 20 points for Philadelphia, which built a 20-point fourth-quarter lead in beating New Orleans for the fourth straight time at the Wachovia Center.

Aside from the late hiccup, the Sixers were in control throughout, leading by as many as 11 points in the second quarter and extending it to 49-30 with just under four minutes left in the half.

Korver said the quick start, while atypical, was instrumental in the victory.

"That's something that we've got to build confidence in. We haven't done that much this year and to come out and do that was huge for us," Korver said. "We were just real focused. We came out and shot well early and that just fueled the fire."

Desmond Mason closed the first-half scoring with a three-point play to make it 54-40, but he felt the Hornets already had let the game get away.

"With the way that we've been playing and the way that they have been playing, it was in our best interest to jump out early and make them quit early," Mason said. "They jumped on us and we got down big. We've done this a lot of times where we've dug ourselves a hole and we exert a lot of energy to make a late run.

"Tonight, we had to jump on these guys first and we didn't come out to play."

The Hornets, who entered having won five of their last six, looked done when rookie Rodney Carney's layup gave the Sixers a 92-72 lead with 5:55 left.

But Devin Brown hit a pair of 3-pointers and David West scored back-to-back baskets inside to bring New Orleans within 94-88 with 2:21 to play.

Sixers point guard Andre Miller hit a pair of jumpers to stem the comeback and Korver hit four foul shots in the final 23 seconds to seal the team's third win in 11 games.

"It was just a matter of making a play," Miller said. "I just wanted to work the clock and get a good shot. I was able to get into the paint a couple of times and get a couple of easy baskets."

Miller finished 17 points and 11 assists for Philadelphia, which shot 49 percent (38-of-77) from the field and made 22-of-25 from the stripe.

Brown hit four 3-pointes and scored 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting for the Hornets. West, playing in his third game since returning from an elbow injury, added 23 points and 11 rebounds.

"We came out and played down as opposed to jumping on them right away and taking advantage of the fact that they were young and had a couple of guys that were inexperienced," West said. "Instead of playing our style of basketball, we kind of let them do what they wanted to. We didn't get any stops early and they just had the momentum for the whole game."