The Philadelphia 76ers downed the Orlando Magic 74-69 Monday night to move to 16-6 on the season and hand the Magic their fourth straight loss. The Sixers win breaks a six game win streak that the Magic had in the Wells Fargo Center.
The final score makes the game seem even closer than it was. The Sixers led by as many as 16 in the fourth quarter and had held the Magic under 50 points until there was just 3 minutes left in the game. The Magic went on a 17-5 run in the waning minutes of the game to make things a bit uncomfortable, but the outcome was never seriously in doubt.
Andre Iguoldala filled the stat sheet again with 14 points, 11 boards and 6 assists. Thaddeus Young and Evan Turner were the only other Sixers in double digits.
But the player of the game for the Sixers had to be Elton Brand, who thanks to the injuries to all the Sixers bigs, spent the majority of the game guarding Dwight Howard. Brand held Howard to 6-17 shooting and tallied four blocks. He was a physical presence and a major thorn in Howard’s side all night.
Tonight marked the first of seven straight games on the Sixers schedule against teams with winning records including the top three Eastern conference seeds over the next three games.
The Sixers now lead the Atlantic division by five full games over the idle Boston Celtics.