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Wednesday, Jan. 26 7:00pm ET
Hardaway's season-high powers Suns | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Jason Kidd shot 1-of-11 from the field yet still had a great game. The reason was his defense. Kidd shut down Allen Iverson, especially down the stretch, and had 13 rebounds and eight assists to help the Suns gain a 93-87 win Wednesday night over the Philadelphia 76ers. "Offense goes out the window when you face a guy like that," Kidd said. "I just wanted to make it tough for him." Kidd missed his first 10 shots and did not make a field goal until there was 5:57 left in the game. But he hounded Iverson into missing his last nine shots, including seven in the fourth quarter. "You're not going to prevent Allen from taking his shots, but Jason followed him all over the court," Suns coach Scott Skiles said. "He did a great job and gave himself up offensively." Another big performer was Penny Hardaway who, in his third game back from the injured list, had a season-high 27 points on 12-of-21 shooting from the field. "He gives us a whole new dimension," Skiles said of Hardaway. "When he posts up on the box it's hard to stop him. Not only can he score from there but he can pass and make other people better." Clifford Robinson scored six of his 19 points in the final two minutes and Tom Gugliotta had 17 points for the Suns, who bounced back from a loss at Indiana one night earlier and won for the fourth time in five games. Despite his poor fourth quarter, Iverson paced the 76ers with 18 points. Theo Ratliff had 14 points and 11 rebounds and Larry Hughes had 13 points and a season-high 10 rebounds for Philadelphia, which shot a dismal 19-for-35 from the foul line. "We lost it at the free throw line, they're gimme points," said Iverson, who was 4-for-8 from the stripe. "There's nobody around. It was just a tough night at the foul line and an awful night for me." "When you shoot 30 percent and miss all of those free throws you are going to get beat," 76ers coach Larry Brown said. "It was one of those nights." Leading 83-82, Rex Chapman made a 3-pointer from the left wing to put the Suns ahead by four. Hughes then made a flashy reverse layup to pull the 76ers within two, but Robinson got behind the defense and sank an easy fast-break layup to open another four-point lead. "That shot by Rex was huge," Skiles said of Chapman, who had been inserted just seconds before after Gugliotta fouled out. "He came in cold off the bench and hit a big shot." Aaron McKie hit a jumper from the corner as the shot clock expired with 1:30 left to halve the deficit, but Robinson made back-to-back field goals to seal the win. The 76ers seemed to have come all the way back after trailing by 13 in the fourth quarter, but Iverson and Aaron McKie combined to miss two out of three from the line and the Suns were able to hold onto a 83-82 advantage. Philadelphia, trailing 77-64, went on a 13-2 run, sparked by five points and a key steal from Hughes. The run was capped by five points by George Lynch, including a 3-pointer, just his fourth of the season, with 4:57 to go. The Suns opened up an 11-point lead in the third quarter when they went on a 9-2 run midway through the period. Hardaway had six straight points during the stretch. Philadelphia cut the deficit to two late in the period, but Hardaway scored the final five points of the quarter to allow the Suns to take a 70-63 advantage into the fourth. Phoenix had a six-point halftime lead thanks to Hardaway's 14 points and the team's 19-of-22 shooting from the foul line. Although they trailed for most of the half, the 76ers did have the most spectacular play when Iverson leaped high for an alley-oop pass from Billy Owens and dropped in a difficult reverse layup. Game notesAt the halfway mark of the season, Philadelphia had 24 wins, its most since the 1989-90 season. ... Phoenix has won 11 of its last 12 against Eastern Conference teams. ...Because of the inclement weather in Philadelphia, six 76ers (Allen Iverson, Billy Owens, Larry Hughes, Jumaine Jones and Bruce Bowen) were unable to get to practice on Tuesday. ...At one point, from the 3:35 mark of the third quarter until the 8:13 mark of the fourth, the 76ers missed 11 straight field goals. | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Phoenix Clubhouse Philadelphia Clubhouse RECAPS Phoenix 93 Philadelphia 87
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