Sixers Pound Grizzlies

For 24 minutes against the Philadelphia 76ers, the lowly Vancouver Grizzlies looked like a playoff team. That didn't sit well with Sixers coach Larry Brown.

"He didn't think we played up to our level defensively in the first half," said Philadelphia forward George Lynch of Brown. "He was trying to get us to play hard."

Brown's halftime comments worked as the Sixers scored 22 of the first 26 points of the third quarter on their way to a 107-90 win Wednesday night.

Brown credits the arrival of Kukoc in mid-February with the improvement.

"Since he's been here we've had more balance," Brown said. "He's an equal opportunity guy. We've been amazed at how willing he is to give it up."

George Lynch had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Theo Ratliff had 16 points and a season-high six blocks, and Matt Geiger added 13 points for the Sixers, who have now won four in a row and seven straight over Vancouver.

Othella Harrington paced the Grizzlies with 20 points, Shareef Abdur-Rahm had 17, Mike Bibby had 15 points and 10 assists, and Michael Dickerson had 13 points for Vancouver, which has lost six in a row and is now just 1-7 against Philadelphia.

The 76ers, who trailed by three at halftime, had a 14-0 run in their spurt to being the second half as they opened up a 75-60 lead with 5:31 left.

After a 3-pointer by Bibby, Philadelphia scored four more points, capped by a fastbreak layup by Eric Snow, to take a 16-point lead. The Grizzlies turned the ball over seven times in the first nine minutes of the quarter. Philadelphia's biggest lead was 23 late in the game.

"You've got to guard people, and we didn't do that," Vancouver coach Lionel Hollins said. "We couldn't score and we couldn't run."

Vancouver made 12 of its first 19 shots and took a 32-16 lead with 1:52 remaining in the first quarter. But the 76ers used a 23-8 run to pull within one, 40-39, with 7:38 left in the second.

During the spurt, Kukoc had seven points, including a spectacular baseline spin move that got him past Doug West and Abdur-Rahim.

"They started making more shots and stepped up their defense and their running game," Bibby said "We were doing that in the first half, but not the second."

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