Elton Brand scored 18 points and the Philadelphia 76ers put together a decisive second-half run en route to an 88-79 victory over the visiting Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night.
Brand shot 7-of-10 from the floor and drained all four free throws to give the 76ers consecutive wins for the first time this season. They play four of their next six games at home.
Philadelphia trailed by eight points late in the third period before Brand scored four points and the Sixers pulled within 68-66 entering the final quarter. They scored 12 of the first 16 points of the period, with Brand drawing the Sixers even with a jumper and Jrue Holiday providing a 74-72 lead with a driving layup with 6:09 left.
Wesley Matthews scored 26 points for Portland, which blew a late 12-point lead to New Jersey on Sunday and has lost four straight games for the first time since March 2008. The Blazers have dates against Boston and Washington awaiting before returning home.
The Sixers shot 56.3 percent in the first half while the Blazers shot just 40.5 percent, but LaMarcus Aldridge corralled six offensive rebounds and scored 18 of his 20 points in the opening 24 minutes to give Portland a 47-46 lead.
The Blazers pushed the margin to eight in the third period behind nine points by Matthews, who started in place of a slumping Nicolas Batum.
Portland | Philadelphia | |
Wesley Matthews 26 | Scoring | Elton Brand 18 |
Andre Miller 9 | Assists | Lou Williams 5 |
LaMarcus Aldridge 12 | Rebounds | Andre Iguodala 7 |
Wesley Matthews 6 | Free Throws Made | Elton Brand 4 |
Andre Miller 4 | Steals | Elton Brand 2 |
Marcus Camby 1 | Blocks | Elton Brand 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Portland | 79 | 37.0 | 5-18 | 14-17 | 19 | 45 | 3 | 7 | 16 |
Philadelphia | 88 | 47.0 | 6-14 | 20-26 | 22 | 40 | 2 | 8 | 14 |