Creativity, Losing Streak End for Philadelphia

It seemed as though Philadelphia was trying to give it away. After all, the 76ers have had plenty of practice.

Jerry Stackhouse scored 38 points, and Rex Walters had the best game of his career for Philadelphia, which ended a 13-game losing streak Wednesday night by beating the Celtics, 127-125, in overtime at Boston.

It was Philadelphia’s second victory in its last 25 games, and its first in four overtime games this season.

“We actually had it won a couple of times. We were finding creative ways to let them in,” 76er Coach Johnny Davis said. “In the overtime we played solid defense and that’s what won the game.”

Walters had 27 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds, and Allen Iverson made three free throws in the final 30 seconds of overtime for Philadelphia.

Walters’ three-point basket with 50 seconds to play in overtime gave the 76ers a 124-123 lead.

Antoine Walker’s layup with 36 seconds remaining put Boston up, 125-124, but Philadelphia regained the lead when Iverson hit two free throws with 30 seconds left.

After Iverson made one of two free throws with 9.9 seconds to play to make the score 127-125, Boston had a final chance to win. But Dee Brown missed a three-point shot from the left wing with two seconds remaining, and the Celtics lost their third game in a row.

“I was going for the win at the end,” Brown said. “I’m tired of losing, I don’t like it at all.”

He doesn’t like losing?

“It was just good to get this win and take some pressure off,” Iverson said. “Honestly, I’ve liked the effort from my teammates. I wasn’t frustrated. Hopefully we can build on this.”

Stackhouse was getting a little extra help from former 76er Julius Erving, who was in attendance to celebrate the Philadelphia-Boston rivalry in the NBA’s 50th season.

“Dr. J was telling me personally to let the game come to me,” Stackhouse said. “I think that rubbed off a lot on the other guys.”

Seattle 98, Portland 97--Hersey Hawkins made a layup with 2.8 seconds to play for the SuperSonics, who won their ninth game in a row.

Portland’s Gary Trent scored 24 points and 18-year-old rookie Jermaine O’Neal had 20 in the loss a Seattle, which trailed, 97-96, after O’Neal dunked a missed shot by Kenny Anderson with 8.6 seconds to play.

But Hawkins scored the winning layup after taking a pass from Gary Payton on a back-door play.

Payton’s final assist was his 12th of the night, tying his season high. He also had six steals.

Seattle trailed, 95-91, after Trent scored off an offensive rebound with 1:05 to play.

Payton sank a free throw with 1:01 remaining, Detlef Schrempf made a hook shot with 27 seconds left and Payton scored on a layup with 15 seconds to go after stripping the ball from Cliff Robinson.

New Jersey 103, San Antonio 95--Kendall Gill scored 32 points, including 15 in the third period, for the Nets, who won at San Antonio.

Kerry Kittles added 23 points for New Jersey, which took the lead for good with a 15-3 run midway through the final quarter that took the Nets from a five-point deficit to control of the game.

Dominique Wilkins, returning after sitting out 10 games because of a sore knee, and Vernon Maxwell each scored 20 points for the Spurs.

Utah 111, Phoenix 99--Karl Malone scored a season-high 41 points, including 27 in the second half for the Jazz, which pulled away in Phoenix.

John Stockton had 23 points and 12 assists, and Jeff Hornacek scored 21 points for Utah, which won for the fifth time in six games and ended the Suns’ five-game home winning streak.

Cedric Ceballos led the Suns with 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Rex Chapman scored 15 points.

Denver 94, Vancouver 84--Mark Jackson, the NBA assist leader, had 15 points, 16 rebounds and 12 assists for the Nuggets, who led from start to finish in a victory in Denver.

LaPhonso Ellis added 22 points for the Nuggets.

Rookie Shareef Abdur-Rahim had 22 points to lead Vancouver, which lost for the 12th time in its last 14 games and dropped to 0-23 when scoring fewer than 90 points.

Sacramento 97, Detroit 92--Mitch Richmond scored 22 of his 38 points in the fourth quarter and won his personal duel with Grant Hill in a victory in Sacramento.

Richmond, who added a season-high 10 rebounds and 10 assists, scored all 11 of the Kings’ points in a five-minute stretch of the fourth period.

Hill had 33 points and 10 rebounds for the Pistons. Otis Thorpe added 24 points and 13 rebounds.