Dwight Howard recorded his ninth 20-point, 20-rebound game of the season and the Orlando Magic upended the 76ers 88-82 on Saturday night in Philadelphia.
Thaddeus Young, Lou Williams and Jodie Meeks put up 51 points off the bench for the Sixers, but that wasn't enough to push their team past Orlando.
Howard's big night should help settle some of the tension surrounding his team after his coach, Stan Van Gundy, publicly admitted that his star center wanted him to be fired.
The Sixers missed out on an opportunity to keep pace with the Celtics, who defeated the Pacers on Saturday night to improve to 31-24 and build their lead to two games in the Atlantic Division.
It won't be long before Philadelphia has the chance to make the ground back up however, as they travel to Boston Sunday to take on the Celtics in a critical division game.
It was a tight one through much of the first half of Philly's Eastern Conference showdown with Orlando, but the Sixers built a comfortable lead late in the second quarter to enter the break up 45-37.
Lou Williams and Jodie Meeks have combined for a strong effort of the bench, pouring in a total of 22 points in 22 minutes. Andre Iguadala, despite scoring just four points, leads all players with six assists.
The Magic, who have faced some bizarre adversity in recent days surrounding the admission of coach Stan Van Gundy that star center Dwight Howard asked upper management for him to be fired, were led by eight points and six rebounds from power forward Glen "Big Baby" Davis.
These two teams are separated by just two and a half games in the standings, while Philadelphia can crawl back into a tie atop the Atlantic Division standings with a win tonight coupled by a Celtics loss to the Pacers.
The Philadelphia 76ers will take on the Orlando Magic Saturday with hopes of keeping pace in the Eastern Conference standings. Currently, the seventh-place Sixers (29-25) have a 1 1/2-game lead on the eighth-place New York Knicks, who own a one-game lead over the ninth-place Milwaukee Bucks.
On Saturday, the Bucks (27-28) host the Portland Trailblazers, and will try to earn a victory that can help them close within a 1/2-game behind the Knicks (28-27), who're idle Saturday, however, host the Chicago Bulls on Sunday.
Overall, the Sixers have 12 games remaining on their schedule, while the Knicks and Bucks have 11. Here's a look at the Eastern Conference standings.
