Maurice Cheeks, the 76ers' coach, said he thought ''that was winning basketball.''

But it wasn't.

That's what the final score said.

It was way, way better than the basketball the Sixers played in Monday night's loss in Charlotte. There was better defense. There was better energy. There were better conmtributions from the bench.

But there wasn't a win.

There were Anthony Johnson and Rashard Lewis each draining a three-pointer in the final minute, leaving the Sixers with a 96-94 loss tonight in the Wachovia Center, dropping them to 7-8.

That's what can happen when an opponent can spread the floor with four shooters and have Dwight Howard lurking around the basket. In this case, Johnson, the 34-year-old point guard filling in for the injured Jameer Nelson, cut the Sixers' lead from 92-88 to 92-91 with a minute left. The Magic knocked down 9 triples; this was Johnson's only one.

The Sixers still led 94-93 on two free throws by Andre Iguodala with 14.6 seconds to go, but the Magic, now 11-4, came out of a timeout and saw Rashard Lewis hit a 24-foot triple to shove them ahead 96-94 at 4.8.

"Every once in a while you have to get lucky, and tonight we got lucky,'' Lewis said. "We hung in there and knocked down some big shots towards the end and we were able to steal the win.''

With no timeouts remaining, the Sixers tried running a play Cheeks calls ''X.'' The ball was supposed to end up in Iguodala's hands for one last attempt, but Andre Miller lofted a 38-foot air ball as time ran out.

''X'' didn't exactly mark the spot.

''I really had no choice,'' Miller said.

Left unsaid was the foul shooting by Howard, who came in at a strugling 54.3 percent. The Magic center, who had 21 points, 14 rebounds and 2 blocks, drained 6 of 8 attempts in the fourth quarter.

''The way we played tonight was the way we need to play night in and night out,'' Cheeks said. ''I thought it was good defensive basketball . . . Again, I just thought that was winning basketball. It was unfortunate we didn't win the game.''

It was equally unfortunate that the Sixers didn't take more advantage of some excellent work off the bench from their two backup centers, the veteran Theo Ratliff and the rookie Marreese Speights. Ratliff played 17:50, his longest stretch of the young season, played solid defense and contributed 5 rebounds. Speights had 12 points in 13:32, including a desperation triple at the third quarter buzzer that gave the Sixers a 72-71 lead.

Elton Brand led the Sixers with 21 points, while Iguodala ,managed 17 points and 7 assists.

''We have a tendency to play to the level of the team we're playing against,'' Iguodala said. ''Tonight, I think we stepped it up in the second half. Throughout the rest of the season, no matter who we're playing against, we have to play at a high level.''

Courtney Lee had to go through the painful process of accepting the death of Danny Rumpf, his roommate and teammate at Western Kentucky.

''It was just knowing he's not going to be with you any more,'' said Lee, the Orlando Magic's rookie guard, before tonight's game against the 76ers.

Lee, from Indianapolis, was going into his sophomore season college. Rumpf, from Parkway High in Philadelphia, was about to become a senior. But May 8, 2005, in the midst of a pickup game at Mallery Recreation Center, Rumpf became a victim of hyperthopic cardiomyapathy, an abnormal growth of muscle fibers on the heart muscle. It's generally considered a genetic disease, showing no symptoms, affecting one in 500 people.

''He was just a good teammate, a good friend, for the most part willing to help whoever,'' said Lee, who wears Rumpf's No. 11 in tribute. ''I wouldn't have had all the success I've had if it weren't for him. When I first got there (Western Kentucky), I was homesick. He was the one who kind of stayed on my wing, talked me out of transferring, telling me he went through the same thing. He was the one taking me out, getting my mind off it.''

Lee has stayed in touch with Rumpf's family, and has been supportive of the Daniel Eric Rumpf II Foundation, which is hopeful of someday having the Mallery Rec Center's name changed in Rumpf's memory. The foundation is also raising funds to help provide defribrillators and emergency equipment for rec centers in the city, and to provide two $500 scholarships each year. The first scholarship went to Jarred Wright, who played at Caravel Academy in Delaware.

Anyone interested in contributing to the foundation can send donations to P.O. Box 4967, Phila., Pa., 19119.

''We just want to try and make people aware (of the disease),'' Lee said. ''Just tell them to go get checked.''

Happy Thanksgiving, Steve Mix.

The former 76ers' power forward and longtime TV analyst has surfaced with two new gigs: He's doing some TV work in the Mid-America Conference and has been hired to work with the NBA Developmental League big men.

Mix did not have his Comcast SportsNet contract renewed after the 2006-07 season, and was replaced by Bob Salmi. He was one of three candidates this season for the Sixers assistant coaching position that eventually went to Jeff Ruland.

The opportunity to work with the D-League forwards and centers came, in part, via a recommendation from Sixers senior vice-president/assistant general manager Tony DiLeo.

The 6-7 Mix was with the Sixers from 1973-74 through '81-82, representing them in the '75 NBA All-Star Game.

It's not a hard-and-fast policy, but the 76ers — and most NBA teams — generally don’t practice the day after back-to-back games, particularly if the second leg was on the road.

But the Sixers, after beating Golden State Sunday in the Wachovia Center and losing badly Monday in Charlotte, spent a solid 2 hours today at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Most of that time was consumed watching tape. Never mind that the Sixers are 7-7 going into tomorrow's game against Orlando, or that they have won five of their previous seven games, or that they remain nicely ahead of last season’s 4-9 start. They don’t have much reason to feel good about themselves.

So, coach Maurice Cheeks, you don’t normally practice after a back-to-back, do you?

“Normally,” Cheeks said.

But you did this time, because ... ?

“I just thought we needed to do it,” Cheeks said. “We needed to clean up some things.”

Coaches sometimes schedule a practice on what would otherwise be a day off simply to remind the players of what’s expected. That clearly was a big part of Cheeks’ agenda.

“We just went through our offense, making it a little crisper, understanding all the things we were trying to get out of it,” he said. “The offense wasn’t everything in the [Bobcats'] game, but it was part of it.”

News, as we know, travels faster than ever. So it was no surprise that Saint Joseph's University coach Phil Martelli was aware that Dwayne Jones, one of his former stars, had made his way back to the NBA. The 6-10 Jones, a former Atlantic 10 Defensive Player Of The Year, signed with the Charlotte Bobcats just before Monday night's game against the 76ers.

I had called Martelli several days ago to get some thoughts on Jones, because it was public knowledge that Jones was returning from Turkey to take another shot at the league. Martelli and the Hawks, though, had already left for the Maui Invitational Tournament. Given Martelli's schedule and the time difference, I was hardly expecting a return call.

But I got one today, just after the Hawks defeated Indiana 80-54.

Martelli dialled in just before reviewing the tape of the game and beginning preparations to face Alabama tomorrow.

''What I've noticed about Dwayne is, getting to the NBA, knocking around, scratching and clawing, he really has a work ethic that allows you to cheer for him, to pull for him,'' Martelli said. ''He knows nothing is going to be easy, and he didn't expect it to be easy. Getting cut by Orlando, going to Turkey, he was doing what he had to do.''

Jones, since leaving Saint Joe's, has been employed Minnesota, Boston and Cleveland, and has made a couple of stops in the NBA Developmental League. He was recommended to Bobcats coach Larry Brown by injured Cavaliers guard Eric Snow (a former Sixer) and Cavaliers assistant coach John Kuester (a former Sixers assistant).

''We talk every summer when he comes through, and he doesn't feel entitled to anything,'' Martelli said. ''He's a grinder, and if you're always a worker you're never a distraction. I think by the time he finishes his career, he'll have a long list of teams on the back of his trading card.''

CHARLOTTE--Dwayne Jones, the former Atlantic 10 Defensive Player Of The Year, signed a few hours ago with Charlotte Bobcats, in time to be in the Time Warner Cable Arena for tonight's game against the 76ers, but apparently not in time to wear a uniform.

The 6-10 Jones, twice named to the Atlantic 10 All-Defensive team, was expected to arrive about 5 p.m. He had appeared in two games with Efes Pilsen Istanbul after being released by the Orlando Magic. If nothing else, he brings rebounding skill to the 3-9 Bobcats, having averaged 11.6 in his final season with the Hawks. He was an unselected early entry in the NBA draft in 2005 and was signed as a free agent by the Minnesota Timberwolves; he played in the 'D'' League before traded to the Boston Celktics, for whom he played 14 games.

Traded again, this time to the Cleveland Cavaliers, he spent most of 2006-07 in the ''D" League. In 56 games with the Cavs last seasonb, he averaged 1.4 points and 2.5 rebounds in 8.1 minutes

Part of Maurice Cheeks' duties as the 76ers' coach involves creating better situations for different players at different times.

Here's the benefit of Cheeks putting the ball in Andre Iguodala's hands a little more, allowing Iguodala to initiate the offense from the top of the key, sending Andre Miller to the corner:

In the last four games, Iguodala has put together 61 points and 26 assists. Miller, in those same four games, has taken 26 shots and handed out 30 assists; in the four games before that, Miller had taken a whopping 74 shots and had just 15 assists.

The Sixers, by the way, have won 5 of their last 6.

Cheeks' next challenge is to try and solve the mystery of Lou Williams, who was supposed to be the guard off the bench to inject scoring and/or change the pace of the game. Williams, though, is shooting 6-for-29 in the last 5 games, 20-for-66 in the last 9.

''My thought is, it's not necessarily trying to break him out in terms of scoring, I just want him to get out on the court and just play a little freer . . . basically trust his abilities, whether it's scoring, passing, whatever it is,'' Cheeks said. ''Most times, when I talk to players, I've been in those situations (as a player). If you stick around long enough, you're going to go through times when you're not playing like you'd like to play. I certainly did it from time to time.

"Everyone, at some point, gets a little apprehensive. We've all been there. (I tell them), if you have an opening, go for it, don't pull back. If you have an open shot, shoot it. Trust the things you're capable of doing.''

. . .

A Word From Iguodala:

Aware that the Eagles had lost badly Sunday, and that quarterback Donovan McNabb had been replaced by Kevin Kolb, Iguodala smiled wanly at a reporter after Sunday's 89-81 victory over Golden State and said; "Guess you'll be leaving us alone for a while.''

MINNEAPOLIS--Kevin Ollie, after 11 seasons in the NBA, was at home in Connecticut with his wife, Stephanie, and their two children. He was thinking about retiring as a player, and his family was all for it.

"They were getting used to having me at home,''  said Ollie, who completed his third stint with the 76ers last season, leaving as an unrestricted free agent. ''They kind of liked it.''

But the more Ollie thought about it, the more he realized one more contract would probably be his last one. The Minnesota Timberwolves had been calling, but didn't have any guaranteed money to offer. The more the Wolves called, the more Ollie was interested.

Finally, he said yes, signing a non-guaranteed contract, arriving the second day of training camp. It didn't take long to beat out NBA Developmental League guard Blake Ahearn for a roster spot. In a way, this is ''Sixers West,'' because his teammates include Rodney Carney and Calvin Booth, who were traded here when Sixers president/general manager Ed Stefanski needed a little more salary cap space to sign Elton Brand.

"It took him about 10 minutes to figure out what we were trying to do,'' Wolves assistant coach Ed Pinckney said. ''In fact, if he were just a little younger, he might be our starter at the point.''

At the same time, Ollie has also already had an impact on the locker-room. That was one of his major roles with the 76ers last season. Now, he's looking at another young group and enjoying the experience.

''I was leaning toward retiring,'' he said. ''Then I thought this might be my last call, so why not?''

Fact: Thaddeus Young, in just his second season, is the 76ers' No. 2 scoring option, after Elton Brand and before Andre Iguodala.

Fact: Young is, through the first 10 games of the season, the Sixers' leading scorer.

Given Young's rapid ascension, a reporter the other day asked coach Maurice Cheeks whether he could forsee, in perhaps a couple of seasons, Young as the No. 1 option.

''Is Elton Brand still here?'' Cheeks asked.

Cheeks, though, gave it a little more thought and said: "I hear what you guys are saying, (that) if he continues to blossom and go the way he's going, then you have to maybe look in a different direction. But right now, I like the way (Young) is playing. He's feeding off a lot of guys, and a lot of guys are feeding off him. He's just a basketball player, very knowledgable, that wants to learn, and he's very receptive to teaching.''

I suggest this: Young is clearly the team's most improved player, and still has a ton of upside. But he's the leading scorer through 10--count 'em, 10--games. At this point, he has no idea about the weight of attempting to do this through the grind of an 82-game schedule. And that's OK, because as long as he continues to provide the same level of energy he can impact the games in various other aspects. And as long as he's doing that, Cheeks can focus on ways to more effectively incorporate Brand, Iguodala and--perhaps the most difficult of all--Samuel Dalembert.