By David Porter
ASSOCIATED PRESS

April 13, 2006

Allen Iverson had 40 points and 10 assists and Chris Webber returned from a back injury to score 18 as Philadelphia remained tied for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot with a 116-96 win over the New Jersey Nets last night.

With four games left in the regular season, the 76ers have won three games in a row after losing 10 of 13. Their resurgence has them thinking playoffs as they travel to Miami for a game tomorrow night.

“It's been a total effort by everybody, the starters and the guys off the bench,” said Webber. “It feels like we're looser out there.”

Philadelphia will need Webber if it hopes to play beyond next week, and he put in a strong effort after missing two games with a lower back strain. He shot 8-for-18 and had 11 rebounds in 30 minutes.

“It feels good. It was good to get out on the floor,” Webber said before adding, “I'm glad I didn't have to play in the fourth quarter.”

The 76ers shot 61 percent (14-for-23) in the first quarter when they began to pull away, and shot an even 50 percent for the game (44-for-88). The 116 points were more than any team has scored against the Nets this season.

New Jersey fell to 1-3 since tying a club record by winning 14 games in a row.

“We're not proud of what happened,” said Nets coach Lawrence Frank. “I think when you look at it, we had four games in five nights, and at this point of the year we knew it was going to be tough. Obviously this game meant a whole lot to Philadelphia and we just didn't have it defensively.”

Philadelphia will need all the wins it can get since Chicago owns a tiebreaker, courtesy of a better conference record. The 76ers took care of business last night by taking advantage of a Nets team already locked in to a playoff berth and coming off a game at Chicago the night before.

The disparity in energy was evident from the outset, as after a brief New Jersey flurry to start the game the visitors took over and never trailed.

“They're a team that won 14 games in a row,” said Iverson, who has 25 assists in his last two games. “We felt they were going to come out and play hard. We just wanted it. We can go to Miami and they've already locked it up, so hopefully we can jump on them the same way.”

The 76ers face an uphill road with games at Miami, Orlando and Charlotte sandwiched around a home game against the Nets next Tuesday.

“We know it's crunch time and that each and every game is like a playoff game for us,” said Steven Hunter, who scored 11 points off the bench for Philadelphia. “We want to show Chicago that we want it more than they do. We've got to play with the same urgency and focus that we've had in the last few games and we should be OK.”

PHILA.		FG	FT	Reb
	Min	M-A	M-A	O-T	A	PF	Pts
Iguodala	37	4-5	1-2	1-12	4	4	10
Webber	30	8-18	2-3	3-11	1	1	18
Dalembert	12	1-4	0-0	0-3	0	4	2
Iverson	38	13-26	14-15	0-2	10	0	40
Salmons	26	3-5	0-0	3-5	5	2	7
Hunter	21	5-6	1-2	1-3	0	1	11
Green	22	4-10	0-0	0-0	1	1	8
Barnes	16	1-2	2-2	1-5	0	3	4
Korver	19	3-7	3-3	0-2	0	0	12
Randolph	7	1-2	0-0	0-0	0	2	2
Williams	6	1-2	0-0	1-2	0	0	2
Bradley	6	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	1	0
Totals	240	44-88	23-27	10-45	21	19	116
Percentages: FG .500, FT .852. 3-Point Goals: 5-12, .417 (Korver 3-4, Iguodala 1-1, Salmons 1-1, Barnes 0-1, Webber 0-2, Iverson 0-3). Team Rebounds: 6. Team Turnovers: 7 (11 PTS). Blocked Shots: 4 (Hunter, Iguodala, Korver, Salmons). Turnovers: 5 (Green, Iguodala, Iverson, Randolph, Salmons). Steals: 7 (Iguodala 4, Green, Iverson, Salmons). Technical Fouls: Hunter, 2:39 first; Defensive Three Second, 10:48 third.
NEW JERSEY		FG	FT	Reb
	Min	M-A	M-A	O-T	A	PF	Pts
Jefferson	30	2-7	4-5	0-2	3	1	8
Robinson	25	3-8	1-2	1-4	1	1	8
Krstic	33	7-10	4-4	1-11	1	3	18
Carter	32	7-15	5-7	1-3	6	2	21
Kidd	26	3-8	3-3	0-6	5	4	9
Vaughn	24	4-6	1-1	0-0	0	2	9
Planinic	18	2-6	3-4	0-2	2	2	7
Murray	20	2-6	4-4	1-5	0	0	9
Nachbar	20	1-4	3-4	0-1	1	3	5
Padgett	11	1-3	0-0	1-3	1	1	2
Totals	240	32-73	28-34	5-37	20	19	96
Percentages: FG .438, FT .824. 3-Point Goals: 4-21, .190 (Carter 2-5, Murray 1-2, Robinson 1-3, Kidd 0-1, Jefferson 0-2, Nachbar 0-2, Padgett 0-2, Planinic 0-4). Team Rebounds: 7. Team Turnovers: 12 (13 PTS). Blocked Shots: 3 (Kidd, Padgett, Robinson). Turnovers: 10 (Jefferson 3, Krstic 2, Robinson 2, Carter, Kidd, Vaughn). Steals: 3 (Kidd, Planinic, Robinson). Technical Foul: Coach Frank, 1:00 first.
Philadelphia		33		34		23	26–116
New Jersey		21		25		27	23– 96

 A–18,754 (20,098). T–2:08. Officials–Steve Javie, Tom Washington, Pat Fraher.

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