Final
Sixers try to right the ship in Cleveland
Feb 11, 2012 - 3:33 PM (Sports Network) - The Philadelphia 76ers will try to put the brakes on their first losing streak of the season when they square off with a Cleveland team that will be minus rookie star Kyrie Irving for a third consecutive game.The Sixers closed out a seven-game stretch that head coach Doug Collins dubbed "Death Row" by faltering a little bit. The Sixers were 4-3 on the challenging stretch against NBA powerhouses Orlando, Chicago, Miami, Atlanta, the Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio and the Clippers but dropped the final two, losing to the Spurs and then falling 78-77 to the Clips when Chris Paul hit the game- winning shot with 3.2 seconds remaining on Friday.
A pair of Lou Williams free throws had Philadelphia up, 77-76, with 18 seconds left, but Paul hit a twisting, fadeaway jumper near the foul line to win it.
The Sixers got 12 points from both Andre Iguodala and Elton Brand, who added 10 boards. Williams finished with 11 points.
"Usually when you play these tough teams in a stretch like we did it usually carries over for a week or two," said Iguodala, who was named an Eastern Conference All- Star reserve on Thursday. "Hopefully it will continue to carry over with the high level that we've been playing at."
Philadelphia will play seven of its next eight games on the road, where it is 5-4 on the season.
The Cavs, meanwhile, have been competitive without their young leader, topping those same Clippers on Wednesday before losing in overtime to Milwaukee, 113-112, on Friday.
Antawn Jamison had a season-high 34 points against the Bucks, but missed a pair of free throws in the final seconds of regulation which would have sent Cleveland to its second consecutive win without Irving. Ramon Sessions finished with 12 points and a season-high 16 assists.
"A very disappointing loss," Cavaliers head coach Byron Scott said. "Our guys continued to battle. They played their butts off, so it's just a disappointing loss."
Irving, who is averaging 18.0 points and 5.1 assists, continues to recover from a concussion which he suffered during the fourth quarter of Tuesday's loss to Miami.
"We're still going through the NBA protocol, but he'll be out tonight and tomorrow," Scott said earlier Friday. "We'll just go from there. He's making improvements, but we're not going to risk putting him out there until the doctors say he's fine."
After this weekend's action, the Cavs don't play again until Wednesday against Indiana.
"We all know how serious this thing can be," Scott added. "That's why we are taking such a cautious look at this. We don't want to put a young man at risk. That's the biggest thing. The NBA has done a terrific job as far as trying to diagnose and figure out what to do with concussions."
In other injury news for Cleveland center Anderson Varejao was forced to leave in the third quarter against Milwaukee with a sprained right wrist and his status is unknown for tonight.
Philly has won two straight over the Cavs.
- PHILADELPHIA: 99
CLEVELAND: 84
Final
Feb 11 9:49 PM - PHILADELPHIA: 79
CLEVELAND: 60
End of 3rd
Feb 11 9:17 PM - PHILADELPHIA: 58
CLEVELAND: 41
Halftime
Feb 11 8:37 PM - PHILADELPHIA: 21
CLEVELAND: 19
End of 1st
Feb 11 8:04 PM - PHILADELPHIA: 0
CLEVELAND: 0
1st Quarter - 12:00
Feb 11 7:42 PM
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