Sixers heading to playoffs after beating Hawks

ATLANTA — Coaches always tell their players when they make a big play, earn a significant victory, to act as if they had been there before. But the 76ers couldn't do that last night. As a group, they had gone where no one had expected them to go at the start of this improbable season.

When they completed their 109-104 victory over the Atlanta Hawks, Maurice Cheeks finally said the word he had refused to say for so long.

"Playoffs," the Sixers coach said. "It's beautiful."

The Sixers needed one victory to qualify for the postseason for only the second time in five seasons and for the first time in their three seasons under Cheeks. They didn't want to depend on Indiana and New Jersey losing. They wanted to take the most meaningful step to date in their remarkable resurgence on their own. And they did.

And as reporters entered the locker room, team publicist Michael Preston said playoff tickets would go on sale Monday.

The Sixers have been playing impressively hard in a stretch that has seen them win 21 of 28 games, but they played harder last night. They rotated their defense, they all but pounced on their opponents in double-teams, they fought to contest as many shots as possible. They expended energy they probably didn't know they had.

With about 20 seconds left, Cheeks placed both hands on the press table, smiled and started to say something to two Philadelphia reporters. But the words never came out. When the final buzzer sounded, after Andre Iguodala had scored his team's final 10 points in the last 1:44, coaches and players high-fived and hugged.

Not many minutes later, with ice packs wrapped around both knees, Iguodala sat slumped in a chair in front of his locker-room stall, finally exhaling. For the first time all night, the motor of the Sixers was idling.

He scored 30 points, including a spectacular fourth period in which he produced 15 and dropped in all nine of his free throws.

"It feels...regular," Iguodala said. "Everybody's happy. We played good basketball. We beat a good team. This is a big win for us. We've come so far, but we kept fighting and we got in."

These are the Sixers who left the same Philips Arena on Feb. 4 with a loss that left them 18-30 and in desperate straits. They have been a force in the NBA's Eastern Conference ever since.

This was a tribute to the teamwork, patience and positive approach Cheeks had unfailingly preached, even during the darkest of moments.

The chance to clinch a playoff berth came with Andre Miller putting together 23 points, six assists and five rebounds, with Samuel Dalembert contributing 15 points and 10 rebounds, with Willie Green adding 15 points, Thaddeus Young 12, Lou Williams nine and Rodney Carney five.

Might as well mention them all, even Reggie Evans and Jason Smith, who played briefly. They all had a hand in this one.

Young stepped into the starting lineup in place of Evans to try to deal with the Hawks' Josh Smith, who had terrorized the Sixers in the first two meetings between the teams. Young was more than capable; Smith had 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists, but wasn't nearly the force he had been in the Hawks' two victories.

The Sixers did have to survive a fourth-quarter onslaught from Joe Johnson and Josh Childress, who combined for 26 of the Hawks' 30 points in the final 12 minutes.

"We're there," Cheeks said. "I'm so proud of our guys, to go in here and play the way we played tonight. We knew what was at stake. I never talked about it. But we knew what was at stake. It was a focus. Our shootaround was a major focus; there was no talking, it was just all business."

They knew this game meant as much to the Hawks as it did to them. The Hawks came in holding a five-game winning streak, with nine victories in their last 11 games. They were in the No. 8 spot in the conference, three games behind the Sixers. And hovering over both teams was the knowledge that they would meet again tonight in the Wachovia Center.

Cheeks had said he wouldn't feel comfortable until he saw the X next to his team's name in the standings, signifying that they had qualified. When the Sixers came into the locker room, there was indeed a big "X" on the grease board, although it was unclear who put it there.

"Last time we were in this building, we were 18-30," Cheeks said. "To be where we are now is a heck of an accomplishment for them, that they never quit on one another. They certainly didn't quit on me. For them to be where we are today and where we were the last time we were here is just an accomplishment for them."

A brand-new one for many of them.

"I don't know how it happened, but it's been hard work," Miller said.

Said Williams: "For me, for Thad, for Jason, for the whole team, it's a new feeling. It's something we can put in our scrapbooks. This was a situation where both teams were trying to clinch. We're in. They're still fighting."

Cord hurt in crash

Matt Cord, the 76ers' public address announcer, will miss his first game tonight in his 11 seasons at the microphone after being hurt in an automobile accident Monday. Tom Lamaine will fill in tonight. *