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Sixers down Celtics to win third straight

Apr 12, 2007 - 5:12 AM BOSTON (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia 76ers believe in making life miserable for the Boston Celtics.

Steven Hunter tied a career high with 20 points as the 76ers recorded a 102-94 victory over the Celtics to win the season series between the division rivals.

Andre Miller scored 20 points and Louis Williams tied a career high with 18 for Philadelphia, which defeated Boston in each of their last three meetings. It marked the first time the Sixers scored 100 points against the Celtics this season.

"It was a nice game," Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks said. "Again, Louis was very good, Joe Smith was good, Steven and Sam (Dalembert) were good. We had a lot of nice performances from everyone and our defense got better in the second half. We found something we liked with the screen and roll with Louis and then later on we found Joe on the block a few times and that started the mixture of our offense."

After Sebastian Telfair's 3-pointer gave Boston a 65-50 lead early in the third quarter, Philadelphia used a 16-4 run to cut the deficit to 69-66, keyed by eight points apiece from Miller and Joe Smith.

"I think we were able to get some stops and make some easy baskets and guys got opportunities to come in and take advantage of it," Miller said.

The Sixers tied it at 76-76 by the end of the quarter and took their first lead since the first quarter when Smith opened the final quarter with a hook shot.

Ryan Gomes' 3-pointer with 4:31 remaining in the game narrowed the Boston deficit to 92-89, but Miller scored two baskets in the next 1:16 to put the game out of reach.

"Tonight was just a classic showing of getting down early and making the necessary adjustments," Smith said.

Gomes scored 26 points and Gerald Green added 22 for Boston, which lost its fifth consecutive game.

Telfair left the game in the third quarter with a mild left ankle sprain and did not return.

"I stepped on a guy when he was about to jump and I rolled my ankle," Telfair said.