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Iguodala leads Sixers to rout of Felton-less Bobcats

Nov 8, 2007 - 4:19 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Andre Iguodala scored 19 points and Willie Green added 12 of his 14 in the first half as the Philadelphia 76ers opened a 17-point lead and breezed to a 94-63 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday.

Iguodala, who took over the go-to role after the 76ers traded star point guard Allen Iverson to the Denver Nuggets last season, added seven rebounds, five steals and four assists in addition to converting 6-of-14 shots.

"We did some good things on defense and it starts there," Iguodala said. "It makes the offense a little easier. We have guys who can get out on the fast break. We just tried to get out and run more."

Playing without point guard Raymond Felton, who injured his left knee in a 115-83 drubbing against Phoenix on Tuesday and is listed as day-to-day, the Bobcats looked sluggish with a sputtering offense.

"We know that Raymond has a big impact on this team. I guess that we didn't realize how much," Bobcats coach Sam Vincent said." We missed him, his shots, and his ball control. We never got into anything and that rolled over to our defense."

"We knew that they had a game last night," Iguodala said. "We knew that they would be a little tired so we tried to take advantage of that."

They avoided a career low of 62 points with a basket in the last minute of the contest, finishing the night shooting 31 percent (23-of-75) with 26 turnovers. The Bobcats also came close to the NBA mark for futility from the arc, missing all 13 shots. The Washington Wizards set the NBA record by missing all 16 attempts in their season-opener.

"We never got into our offense," Vincent. "Guys got careless and sloppy with the ball. We've been pretty good with turnovers and tonight it just fell apart." "We wanted to make sure our defense was solid," Green said. "The guys did a real good job of getting their hand on the loose balls. We were able to get some easy baskets."

Green scored seven points in the first quarter as Philadelphia opened a 23-14 lead and his 3-pointer with 56 ticks left in the second provided a 49-28 edge before Charlotte got a jumper from Philadelphia native Matt Carroll and two free throws by Gerald Wallace to close out the half.

Iguodala's layup with 8:48 left in the third provided a 55-35 edge and his fast-break dunk three minutes later off a cross-court feed by Andre Miller made it 61-41. Free throws by Samuel Dalembert and Iguodala pushed the Sixers' lead to 68-43 with 2:46 to play in the third.

"In the past, we've had games where we let the lead slip," Green said. "For the most part, we continued to put the pressure on those guys."

The Bobcats connected on just 34 percent (14-of-41) shooting in the first half and missed all nine 3-point attempts.

"It's happened to us the last two nights," Wallace said. "We have to figure out what we're doing in the first five minutes that has us knee-deep in the dirt."

Jeff McInnis, filling in for Felton, was 1-of-6 shooting and committed five turnovers.

Carroll led the Bobcats with 16 points, but Jason Richardson and Wallace combined for 14 points on 5-of-26 shooting.