Holiday knows Sixers must take advantage of home cooking

The 76ers are back at the Wells Fargo Center for the first time since defeating Atlanta, 99-80 on Dec. 21.

After going 2-6 on their recent road trip that ended with Saturday's 109-86 loss at San Antonio, the Sixers host the suddenly hot Brooklyn Nets in tonight's 7 p.m. matchup.

Brooklyn (19-15) has gone 5-1 since P.J. Carlesimo replaced the fired Avery Johnson.

The Sixers (15-20) are 9-7 at home, but won't will again hit the road for Wednesday's matchup in Toronto against the Raptors.

"Coming home we will have energy from our fans and this is going to be a big game for us," said Jrue Holiday, following this morning's shootaround.

Counting tonight, 13 of the next 15 games will be at home for the Sixers and Holiday understands they have to take advantage of this situation.

"I think we need to make a push," Holiday said. "It's pretty grueling because we have a back-to-back and go all the way to Toronto, but that his the way our schedule is and we can't complain."

And he understands how important it is to set the tone with tonight's game against the surging Nets.

"This is a home game and a division game and this is crucial," Holiday said.

-Marc Narducci