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Iguodala leads 76ers past Cavaliers in double overtime

Jan 25, 2007 - 5:55 AM CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- Andre Iguodala and the Philadelphia 76ers hit their free throws all night.

Iguodala scored a career-high 34 points, including 12-of-12 from the free-throw line, to lead the 76ers to a thrilling 118-115 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in double overtime.

The 6-6 Iguodala netted eight of his points in the second overtime session as the Sixers made all 12 of their free throws to seal the victory.

"I've been making a conscious effort, since the summer, to work on my free throws," Iguodala said. "My free throw percentage has gone up this year."

Iguodala shot 75 percent last season and is converting at an 84-percent clip this season.

LeBron James scored the final eight points for the Cavaliers, including a 3-pointer with two seconds remaining, but missed a long range 3-pointer just inside the half-court line as time expired.

Samuel Dalembert scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and rookie Rodney Carney added 18 for Philadelphia, which shot 52 percent (43-of-82) from the field and 26-of-27 from the line.

"We should never let a team shoot 50 percent on our (court)," James said. "We do need to pick up our defense."

Iguodala scored the final seven points in regulation for the Sixers, including a floating jumper over the outstretched hands of James and Anderson Varejao to tie the game at 92-92, forcing overtime.

"He's growing up right in front of us," 76ers coach Maurice Cheeks said. "We get a timeout and we hand the ball to him and expect him to deliver for us. And we did it time and time again, and he came through for us. Tonight was another example of him guarding the better offensive player and having to score for us to win."

James missed a driving layup down the right side and Zydrunas Ilgauskas failed on a putback as time expired.

James had a season-high 39 points and 10 rebounds and Ilgauskas collected 23 and 10 for Cleveland, which shot 39 percent (41-of-104) nd a season-low 73 percent (25-of-34) from the free-throw line.

"We're getting into the late clock a lot," James said. "We're not getting the early offense as much. We're not getting shots early in the shot clock. It's almost three-fourths of the time we get down with six seconds on the shot clock and we have to have a guy force it up or we shoot a jump shot.

"We need to push the ball up the court a little bit more and try to get guys into the flow of the offense. It's a little bit stagnant right now."

Cleveland has lost back-to-back home games for the first time this season.

"I am really disappointed in our inability to play hard, especially on the defensive end of the floor," Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said. "For some reason we lost that identity, and that is what helped us win a lot of ballgames before going out west."