76ers go for sweep of road trip vs. Orlando

ORLANDO - When the 76ers decided they wanted 20 wins before 10 losses, they knew they would have to be successful at the Wells Fargo Center. And they have been.

They also knew that if they reached that mark - the team is 20-9 heading into Wednesday night's game with Orlando - sustaining that progress into and out of the all-star break next weekend would be crucial to their success in the second half of the season. The Sixers are 13-5 at home and tied with Miami for the most home wins in the Eastern Conference.

"We knew that this stretch was coming, right before and after the all-star break," Sixers forward Elton Brand said. "We took care of things at home, and now we've got two wins in a row on the road. It's going to be important for us to stay focused through these games."

With victories over Cleveland and Charlotte on this trip, the Sixers are 7-4 on the road. They will play five of six on the road through next Wednesday, when they visit Houston in their last game before the all-star break. When they return, they will be at Detroit for one game before returning to the Wells Fargo Center for three - including visits by contenders Oklahoma City and Chicago.

But first the Sixers will go for a sweep of this three-game trip with a win Wednesday over the Magic, whom they beat earlier in the season when Orlando was without its starting backcourt of Jameer Nelson and Jason Richardson.

In the teams' first meeting on Jan. 30, despite playing poorly at the offensive end, the Sixers led by 68-49 with a little more than three minutes remaining. The Magic staged a furious rally only to fall short, 74-69.

Although the story line in Orlando is all-star center Dwight Howard's desire to be traded, the Magic are playing better these days. The loss to the Sixers was their fourth in a row, but the Magic have won six of their last eight - with both defeats coming in overtime.

If the Sixers are going to continue to have success away from the Wells Fargo Center, they will need reserve guard Lou Williams to continue to play at a high level. Williams has scored 20 or more points in three of the Sixers' last five games and is averaging 19.8 points in that span.

Williams said that sometimes it's good for teams to play away from home.

"It's important for us to get as many wins as possible," Williams said. "At home or away, we can't go on vacation too early. Right now, we're 2-0 on this trip so far. We are actually a group of guys that like to get away from home every once in a while and play some basketball away, so I think we'll be fine."

Where Wilt made history. The Sixers have obtained the court on which Wilt Chamberlain scored his historic 100 points against the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962. The court was bought from Hershey Entertainment and Resorts. A majority of the court will be preserved for posterity and will be used and displayed at several venues, including the Wells Fargo Center and at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, where the Sixers practice. Portions of the court will stay in Hershey, where Chamberlain accomplished the feat. Additionally, the Sixers will donate some of the court to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.