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Iguodala leads 76ers past Bobcats

Feb 8, 2007 - 3:58 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Andre Iguodala is becoming increasingly effective as the focal point of the Philadelphia 76ers' offense.

Iguodala scored 27 points and Andre Miller added 13 to lead the 76ers to their sixth victory in nine games with a 92-83 triumph over the Charlotte Bobcats.

The 23-year-old Iguodala posted his third career triple-double Friday against Golden State and set a career high with 15 assists in Monday's overtime victory over New Jersey. He has guided the 76ers to a 12-6 mark when scoring at least 20 points this season.

"I'm feeling comfortable out there," Iguodala said. "The coaches have put me in a position to succeed and I'm with a group of guys who are really helping me as far as my progression and helping me be consistent every game."

"I don't think any one of us knew he was this good in terms of an overall game," 76ers coach Maurice Cheeks said. "He (has) proven that he has many talents, not just scoring the basketball. More times than not, his stat sheet is pretty filled up with assists, rebounds and points."

Philadelphia broke open the contest by closing the first quarter with a 17-4 run to take a 29-16 lead. Iguodala scored six points, Miller added five and rookie Rodney Carney buried a 3-pointer.

"Three out of four last road games, we have not gotten out of the gate," Charlotte coach Bernie Bickerstaff said. "We had point-blank shots early in the game and had an opportunity to put something on the board, and we didn't get anything done."

After Matt Carroll hit a jumper with 5:00 left in the second quarter to bring the Bobcats within 37-31, the 76ers went on a 13-4 spurt, highlighted by Iguodala and Willie Green, who each contributed three-point plays to help widen the lead to 50-35.

Iguodala continued to make his presence felt in the third quarter by scoring seven consecutive points for Philadelphia, including a one-handed reverse dunk with 2:24 left to give the 76ers a 71-53 bulge.

"Offensively, we had a good grove all night, whether it was (Miller) making a good play or myself getting isolation," Iguodala said. "On the defensive end, we got some stops here and there. We had small runs throughout the game and it just built up."

Charlotte made Philadelphia a little nervous late in the fourth quarter by cutting the deficit to 89-83 on Primoz Brezec's 3-pointer with 42 seconds remaining. However, Iguodala and Kyle Korver combined to hit 3-of-4 free throws to seal the win.

"We're just taking it one game at a time," Miller said. "When you go out and compete hard, anything can happen. You can't win every game but you want to learn from losses and get better. We're working hard and continue to get better."

Iguodala made 8-of-19 shots from the floor and 11-of-13 free throws, Carney scored 12 points and Samuel Dalembert grabbed 13 rebounds for the 76ers.

"I thought our defense was pretty good tonight," Cheeks said. "The way our two bigs have been playing, we wanted to keep them on the floor and with them having a small lineup, I opted to stay with our big lineup, which ended up being pretty good for us.

"We started off sluggish, but I think our defense was what kept us in the game and what kept us pretty straight."

Gerald Wallace and Emeka Okafor scored 16 points apiece and Raymond Felton collected 10 assists for Charlotte, which shot just 35 percent (31-of-88).

"Nothing went right for us and then when we seemed to get things going right, they always came back with a run of their own," Wallace said. "You got to give credit to the 76ers. They did what they were supposed to do. They came out running and took us out of the game early."

"We made a good run and we just didn't capitalize on that," Carroll said. " It's tough to get back into it. We just couldn't get over the hump. They're a very athletic team and it's not easy to get easy buckets against them."