Sixers Press Releases

March 17-23, 2009 West Coast Swing

Philadelphia kicks off a five game, seven day road trip in Los Angeles on Tuesday, March 17. With 21 games in the next 35 days, the Sixers will look to improve upon the Eastern Conference’s seventh best overall record.

While the players and coaches take these one game at a time, SIXERS.COM will look ahead at each of the next five opponents.

Los Angeles Lakers

DATE: March 17, 2009
TIME: 10:30 PM
TV: CSN
RADIO: WIP 610 AM
LAKERS LEADING SCORER: Kobe Bryant – 28.0 PPG
LAKERS LEADING REBOUNDER: Pau Gasol – 9.4 RPG
LAKERS LEADING ASSISTS: Kobe Bryant – 4.9 APG
LAST WIN OVER LAKERS: March 9, 2007 (108-92) - Iguodala scored 31 points and the Sixers spoiled Bryant's return with a 108-92 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. Andre Miller scored 23 points and the Sixers scored 16 straight points in a 20-3 run to cap a perfect homestand (6-0) and win their seventh straight at home in front of their first sellout crowd of the season.
Click Here for Game Recap
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT: "I think I'm just getting more and more comfortable with my teammates," Andre Iguodala said. "They've really got my back every night. They're really pushing me to step up and just take the big shots."
SIXERS vs. LAKERS THIS SEASON: 0-1

Phoenix Suns

DATE: March 18, 2009
TIME: 10:00 PM
TV: CSN
RADIO: WIP 610 AM
SUNS LEADING SCORER: Amar'e Stoudemire – 21.4 PPG (Detached retina surgery – out for season)
SUNS LEADING REBOUNDER: Shaquille O’Neal – 8.7 RPG
SUNS LEADING ASSISTS: Steve Nash – 9.8 APG
LAST WIN OVER SUNS: February 9, 2009 (108-91) – Marreese Speights had a career-high 24 points and Thaddeus Young scored 25 points to lift the Philadelphia 76ers to their third straight win, 108-91 over the Phoenix Suns. Speights fell only a point shy in the first half of matching his career of 17. He scored 16 of 18 points in one stretch to help the Sixers take a 55-44 lead at the break. His layup early in the fourth gave him a career-best 18 points and stretched Philadelphia’s lead to 82-69. Then he showed off his mid-range game with a 16-footer that brought a roar from the crowd. Iguodala scored 22 points and Samuel Dalembert grabbed 11 rebounds.
Click Here for Game Recap
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT: "Our team is so unselfish and if one player has it going, they like to go to that player," said head coach Tony DiLeo. "Marreese Speights was hot tonight, the other game Willie (Green) was hot. Sometimes it’s Lou (Williams), sometimes it’s Andre Iguodala. The team is so unselfish. If somebody gets it going we try to get them some plays for them to get more shots. Thad (Young) and Marreese (Speights) tonight were really going pretty good and we tried to get them some good opportunities."
SIXERS vs. SUNS THIS SEASON: 1-0

Golden State Warriors

DATE: March 20, 2009
TIME: 10:30 PM
TV: CSN
RADIO: WIP 610 AM
WARRIORS LEADING SCORER: Stephen Jackson – 21.1 PPG
WARRIORS LEADING REBOUNDER: Andris Biedrins – 11.6 RPG
WARRIORS LEADING ASSISTS: Stephen Jackson – 6.5 APG
LAST WIN OVER WARRIORS: November 23, 2008 (89-81) – Elton Brand had 23 points and 12 rebounds, Andre Iguodala added 15 points and the Philadelphia 76ers moved above .500 for the first time this season with an 89-81 victory over the Golden State Warriors. Thaddeus Young contributed 12 points and Samuel Dalembert had 16 rebounds for the Sixers, who improved to 7-6 and snapped a five-game losing streak to the Warriors.
Click Here for Game Recap
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT: "I wasn't waiting for my shots," said Lou Williams. "Enough was enough. I looked at the stat sheets and I wasn't helping. It was time to go out and be aggressive again, make shots, and make plays. Playing pick-and-rolls is a way for me to get in the game early and get aggressive on offense. That's one of the plays they play for me. We've been running them and it feels good to make some shots for the team."
SIXERS vs. WARRIORS THIS SEASON: 1-0

Sacramento Kings

DATE: March 22, 2009
TIME: 9:00 PM
TV: CSN
RADIO: WIP 610 AM
KINGS LEADING SCORER: Kevin Martin – 24.1 PPG
KINGS LEADING REBOUNDER: Spencer Hawes – 6.9 RPG
KINGS LEADING ASSISTS: Beno Udrih – 4.3 APG
LAST WIN OVER KINGS: November 3, 2008 (125-91) - Thaddeus Young scored 18 points, Lou Williams had 17 and the 76ers led by as many as 40 points in a 125-91 rout of the Sacramento Kings. Willie Green scored 16 points and Elton Brand had 15 for the Sixers, who were up 20 points at halftime and were able to stretch the lead in the second half. The Sixers blew the game open with a 12-2 run early in the third. Brand converted a three-point play and Young hit a 3 during the spurt that gave the Sixers a 29-point lead.
Click Here for Game Recap
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT: "I just try to bring us a spark and some energy and help anyway I can," said Lou Williams. "Tonight that was scoring and that is one of my strong points. Marresse [Speights] had a big steal at the end of the half and gave me an opportunity to make that shot. We try to use our defensive pressure to get as many easy looks as we can."
SIXERS vs. KINGS THIS SEASON: 1-0

Portland Trail Blazers

DATE: March 23, 2009
TIME: 10:00 PM
TV: CSN
RADIO: WIP 610 AM
TRAIL BLAZERS LEADING SCORER: Brandon Roy – 22.9 PPG
TRAIL BLAZERS LEADING REBOUNDER: Joel Przybilla – 8.1 RPG
TRAIL BLAZERS LEADING ASSISTS: Brandon Roy – 5.1 APG
LAST WIN OVER TRAIL BLAZERS: January 14, 2009 (100-79) - Andre Iguodala scored a season-high 29 points, and Lou Williams had 14 to lead Philadelphia to its fifth straight victory, 100-79 over Portland on Wednesday night. Iguodala made four of Philadelphia's season-high 11 3-pointers and just missed becoming the first Sixers player to score 30 points in a game this season. Thaddeus Young made three 3s and finished with 11 points, and Andre Miller scored 12 points. Philadelphia blew the game open in the fourth quarter thanks to three 3-pointers, helping the Sixers beat their third team with a winning record during this five-game winning streak.
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT: "I thought we did a very good job executing our game plan," said head coach Tony DiLeo. "We really got out defensively, got a lot of deflections, a lot of steals, which led us to fast breaks. Overall shooting 11 for 23 from the three point line, 19 for 21 from the line, shooting 46% overall as a great shooting performance. 26 assists and 35 field goals shows how well and unselfish we are playing as a team."
Click Here for Game Recap
SIXERS vs. TRAIL BLAZERS THIS SEASON: 1-0