• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Red-hot Sixers on the verge of .500

Jan 17, 2009 - 11:23 AM Philadelphia (19-20) at New York (15-23) 7:30 p.m. EST

NEW YORK (Ticker) -- Last season, the Philadelphia 76ers came out of nowhere to storm the playoff party. This time around, the big surprise has been the Sixers' inability to build on that promise.

Thanks to their best stretch of the season, the Sixers appear ready to re-establish themselves. The emerging young club puts its six-game winning streak on the line Saturday night as it hosts the Atlantic Division rival New York Knicks.

With another win, the 76ers would reach the .500 mark for the first time since November 24, when they were 7-7. From then on, they struggled despite their lofty expectations, as Elton Brand - the team's marquee free-agent signing - failed to quickly jell with Philadelphia's system.

Then Brand went out with a separated shoulder. After suffering through a four-game skid at the end of December, the Sixers have figured things out without their former All-Star forward. An offense that was regularly behind held under 90 points earlier in the campaign got its running game going as Andre Iguodala snapped out of an early season slump.

The fifth-year swingman has scored 20 or more points in eight of his last nine games, including 29 in a victory over Portland on Wednesday and 21 more in Friday's blowout victory over the mighty San Antonio Spurs.

Meanwhile, the Knicks continue to take one step forward and two steps back. They recovered from a three-game skid with a victory over New Orleans this week and another win against Washington. They followed that with an embarrassing, 96-89 loss to those same Wizards on Friday, blowing a six-point, fourth-quarter lead.