Sixers beat Timberwolves for fifth straight win

HOLD OFF on that John Wall sweepstakes for a minute. Eddie Jordan and the Sixers aren't finished with this season just yet.

Andre Iguodala scored 24 points and Elton Brand added 21 as the Sixers thumped the visiting Timberwolves, 119-97, for their season-best fifth win in a row. Instead of heading for a lottery in which Wall, the superb Kentucky point guard is expected to be the top prize, the Sixers are making an unlikely playoff run. Even though they are still just 20-31, they remain in the postseason hunt in the inferior Eastern Conference.

"I'm happy we've got a little bit of a wave, but I'm not going to be really happy until we reach .500," said Jordan. "That's the mind-set of where we want to go."

Allen Iverson missed his fourth consecutive game while tending to his ill daughter. He will not play tonight. Willie Green started again for Iverson and had a very efficient 15 points and five assists. Rodney Carney (head cold) also did not play and did not travel with the team to Toronto last night.

They weren't needed.

"It's good that we're playing with a good personality," Jordan said, "a good attitude. But I've stayed away from the playoff dialogue."

Not surprisingly, there were plenty of empty seats at the Wachovia Center. A pending snowstorm will do that. So will a game featuring two teams that are a combined 37 games under .500, even if both came in having won their last four contests.

"Our defense is a little bit better," said Iguodala. The Sixers have held opponents to under 100 points in 13 of their last 15 games. "We're communicating a little bit more. But we can't get comfortable. We've still got a ways to go to reach our true potential."

In addition to the win streak, the Sixers established team season highs with the 22-point margin of victory and for points in a regulation win. When they raced out to 73-51 lead at intermission they also set a standard for most points in a first half.

Iguodala put an exclamation point on that first half by hitting a three and then a jumper in the waning seconds. The 43 they scored in the decisive second frame also was their best for a quarter this season.

"I wish I could blame everything on the second quarter," Minnesota coach Kurt Rambis said. "I don't think we came out and played hard from the beginning of the ballgame. They played harder than us and we turned the ball over way too much."

Jordan targeted the 12-game stretch that ends tonight as a special package. They are 7-4 so far and have exceeded his hopes.

"We were hoping, at the worst for six [wins]," he said.

The lightest moment of the night came in the second quarter just as Sixers guard Lou Williams was about to shoot the first of two free throws and was visibly startled as PA announcer Matt Cord bellowed his signature "LOU FOR TWO." Williams bricked the shot, then - with half a smile - turned and glared at Cord. Williams, who sparkled with 16 points, seven assists and just one turnover, made the second with no trouble.

Just as quickly as the Sixers finished off the Timberwolves, they dashed for the airport to fly to Toronto for tonight's game and a shot at win No. 6 in a row. What lottery?

"We seem to hit our stride around this time every year," Iguodala said. "I think it's important for us to try to keep it going and just understand that Toronto could be a trap game so we have to come out with some energy and fight. Because we have a couple of days off."

Episcopal Academy product Wayne Ellington led the Timberwolves with 16 points, though 12 came in the second half when the game was all but decided . . . Minnesota rookie point guard Jonny Flynn had 14 points, way down from the 29 he dropped in Minnesota's Jan. 18 overtime win over the Sixers. That 29 is still the most a T'wolves player has scored in a game this season . . . Former Sixer Reggie Evans is expected to make his season debut for the Raptors tonight. Evans, who played for the 76ers the last two seasons, damaged ligaments in his left knee in the preseason. Toronto coach Jay Triano is targeting 5 to 8 minutes for Evans, an eighth-year pro . . . Samuel Dalembert received a community service award from the Philadelphia Police Athletic League before last night's game for his service in Haiti.