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Sixers start fast and never look back in rout of Kings

Nov 4, 2008 - 5:18 AM By Michael Luongo PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- For the second straight game, the Philadelphia 76ers built a 20-point first half lead. This time they were able to keep it as they picked up their second straight home win with a 125-91 victory over the Sacramento Kings.

On Saturday, Philadelphia led by as many as 23 points in the first half only to see Atlanta rally for a 95-88 win. Thanks to Thaddues Young and Lou Williams, Philadelphia made sure the outcome was never in doubt on Monday.

Young scored 11 of his 18 points in the second quarter and Williams came off the bench to score 13 first-half points as the 76ers opened up a 68-48 lead.

"I'm just trying to stay focused and trying to help my team," Young said. "I know that I'm going to get easy opportunities with those guys doubling off Elton (Brand) and Dre' (Andre Iguodala). It's going to help out a lot with me knocking out those outside jumpers."

Williams finished with 17 and Willie Green came off the bench to score 16 points for the Sixers.

"When Lou and Willie came in, they did an excellent job," Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks said. "They played physical and built the game off the defensive end of the floor."

Rookie Jason Thompson scored 17 points and Spencer Hawes added 15 for the Kings, who dropped all four games in their season-opening road trip and start a four-game homestand on Wednesday against Memphis.

"We're 0-4, but we have four home games and can turn it around real quick," Kings coach Reggie Theus said. "It's tough to go on the road right off the bat. We played two good games and two bad. The bad were against teams that were athletic and played with force."

The Sixers trailed 6-4 early in the first quarter when they outscored the Kings 15-6 to take a 21-12 lead on a basket by Andre Miller. Elton Brand converted on three point play and followed that up with a basket that pushed the Philadelphia lead to 26-14.

Brand had 10 in the quarter and the 76ers shot 71 percent (12-of-17) from the floor to take a 35-23 lead after the first.

Williams hit a running bank shot to give the Sixers a 43-27 lead before the Kings would pull to within 48-38 on a jumper by Beno Udrih. Philadelphia answered with a basket by Andre Iguodala and a three point play by Samuel Dalembert that gave the Sixers a 55-40 lead with 3:38 to go in the second quarter. Williams would close out the half with a lay-up and a quick 3-pointer off a steal by rookie Maurice Speights just before the buzzer to push the halftime lead to 68-48.

"That's what I try to do," Williams said. "I just tried to give us a spark and give us some energy and help in anyway we can. Maurice gave me a big steal at the end to give an opportunity to make that shot. We used our defensive pressure to get as many easy looks as we could."

Philadelphia never let Sacramento back in the game, learning its lesson from the loss in Atlanta.

"We just went out there and paid attention to detail," Young said. The last game it kind of got away from us a little bit. We were up, we left the door opened and they came back on us. This time closed the door. We kept forcing turnovers, kept getting steals and we got in transition."

"That is the way we have to play," Cheeks said. "We can't sit back on our heels. We had to be in the passing lane ready to defend. We were really focused tonight."

Iguodala opened the second half with a dunk and a three by Young made it 80-51 with 7:50 to go in the third. The fourth quarter was 12 minutes of garbage time with the outcome already decided.

Sacramento which lost its season opener to Minnesota by two points, suffered their third straight double digit loss.

"You can't win in the NBA when you give up 120 points." Theus said. "I asked my guys to search themselves because the effort is not acceptable."