Final
Iguodala, 76ers rout shorthanded Pistons
Feb 26, 2011 - 3:46 AM Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Andre Iguodala collected 21 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds to lead Philadelphia to a 110-94 win over shorthanded Detroit at the Wells Fargo Center.Elton Brand contributed 20 points and matched a season-high with 17 boards while Thaddeus Young netted 24 points off the bench for the Sixers, who have won three in a row to reach the .500 mark. Philly has gone 26-16 after starting the season 3-13.
"Our guys feel good about themselves," Philadelphia head coach Doug Collins said. "We are a growing team that is getting a little swagger."
Will Bynum poured in a season-high 29 points, handed out six assists and grabbed five rebounds while Greg Monroe supplied 16 points and 11 boards for the Pistons, who have dropped three straight and six out of seven.
The loss was mired by a bit of uncertainty and speculation, as the Pistons dressed just six players.
Tayshaun Prince missed the game with an upset stomach while Austin Daye, Tracy McGrady, Rodney Stuckey, Ben Wallace and Chris Wilcox were also out. Jason Maxiell was Detroit's only player off the bench.
The Detroit Free-Press reported that all the absent players -- except for Wallace -- either missed part of or all of the morning shootaround as a way to express their displeasure with head coach John Kuester. Wallace reportedly has missed practices and games during the last month because of the simmering issue.
"That's an internal matter right now," Kuester said. "The thing we wanted to do is get the guys in who had been at the shootaround. They played their hearts out."
Kuester was ejected from the game with three minutes to go in the first half after picking up a pair of technical fouls.
Iguodala's three-point play put the Sixers ahead 20-11 with just under 3 1/2 minutes to go in the opening quarter. The hosts grabbed a 29-22 lead after the first 12 minutes behind 10 points from Iguodala.
Back-to-back inside buckets by Young gave Philly a 41-28 lead with eight minutes to play in the first half before Detroit closed the gap to 43-40.
Brand's putback, that looked like it was the product of a push-off, gave the Sixers a 52-42 edge. Kuester then vehemently argued over the non-call and wound up getting tossed out. Former NBA head coach Brian Hill took over and finished the game running the bench, though he didn't have many decisions to make when it came to substitutions.
"There is no way I should have been kicked out of that game," Kuester went on to say. "I'm very disappointed. Of all the games I've ever been a head coach in, this is the one I didn't want to get thrown out of."
Jrue Holiday's three-point play pushed the lead to 59-44 with 71 seconds left before the Pistons scored the last five points heading into the break.
Detroit moved to within seven on three different occasions in the third quarter but each time they got that close, the Sixers responded with at least the next three points.
Philadelphia used a couple of dunks from Iguodala midway through the final stanza to increase the lead to 98-78 as the Pistons went slightly more than six minutes before their first bucket of the period on a DaJuan Summers jumper.
The issue was not in doubt from that point forward.
Game Notes
Young was 12-for-15 and Iguodala was 9-of-13 from the floor as the Sixers shot 52 percent...Holiday contributed 12 points and 10 assists and Marreese Speights chipped in with 12 points and seven caroms in the win...Philadelphia had 34 assists on 46 buckets and scored 68 points in the paint...Bynum knocked down 12-of-24 shots and Monroe made 7-of-9...Detroit shot 47 percent from the field...Maxiell ended with six points and five rebounds in 29 minutes...The last time an NBA team used just six players in a game was Golden State in a 111-103 win over Dallas on November 24, 2009.
- DETROIT: 94
PHILADELPHIA: 110
Final
Feb 25 9:15 PM - DETROIT: 75
PHILADELPHIA: 86
End of 3rd
Feb 25 8:43 PM - DETROIT: 49
PHILADELPHIA: 59
Halftime
Feb 25 8:04 PM - DETROIT: 22
PHILADELPHIA: 29
End of 1st
Feb 25 7:35 PM - DETROIT: 0
PHILADELPHIA: 0
1st Quarter - 12:00
Feb 25 7:10 PM
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