Sixers defeat Spurs, NBA's top team

FOR AS LONG as they could, the 76ers held the San Antonio Spurs down in the mud with them.

When you're facing the team with the best record in the league, a team that entered the game with a 20-1 record against teams under .500, and you're a club that is trying to climb the NBA ladder, that's what you have to do to compete.

Last night's game at the Wells Fargo Center resembled a horse race in the heavy rain, and the Sixers came out as the better mudders.

Fueled by two key offensive rebounds from Elton Brand, smothering defense by Andre Iguodala and a game-high 27 points from Jrue Holiday on a night when no one seemed able to find the basket, the Sixers handed the Spurs a surprising and rare 77-71 loss. The win improved the Sixers to 25-28. San Antonio is 44-9.

As easy as it would be to say this was an ugly offensive game, as both teams combined to shoot 34.4 percent, much of the reasoning behind that was because of the outstanding defense both teams played. The defense certainly led to some ugly numbers (25 points by the Spurs in the second half, 10-for-46 shooting, a woeful 21.7 percent, by both teams in the third quarter), but the best numbers it produced for the Sixers were the final ones on the scoreboard when the horn blared.

"That was an incredible display by our guys defensively," coach Doug Collins said. "I've never been more proud. This was a grind-it-out, halfcourt game."

Which isn't usually the way the speedy Sixers like to roll, but it is the way San Antonio has built the best record in the NBA.

Tied at 46 at the half, the game became an all-out street fight in the final 24 minutes, with both teams forced into plenty of bad shots - and missing a lot of open ones, too. After the horrendous offensive numbers were posted in the third, you figured some sort of outburst would occur in the fourth. It never really did, though.

A driving layup by Manu Ginobili gave the Spurs a 67-63 lead with 9 minutes, 41 seconds left in the game. But the Sixers answered with eight straight, ending with a three by Holiday for a 71-67 lead with 4:44 remaining.

After the Spurs cut the lead to two on a driving layup by Tim Duncan, Brand grabbed a huge offensive rebound with under three to play that ultimately resulted in his 15-foot jumper. The basket was key in that it gave the Sixers a four-point lead with 2:22 to play, even bigger considering up to that point Brand was 3-for-10 from the floor.

Another Duncan layup again cut the lead to two. When Iguodala missed a jumper on the Sixers' next possession, Brand kept the ball alive and the Sixers were able to milk some more of the clock. Ginobili (2-for-10) missed two shots down the stretch, both with Iguodala draped on him, and Holiday hit four free throws in the final 20 seconds to close out the biggest win of the season for the Sixers.

"Our whole game plan was around three things," Collins said. "First and foremost, keep those guards [Ginobili and Tony Parker] out of the paint. They were 5-for-20, Ginobili 0-for-5 from the three-point line. We also did a good job keeping them off the free-throw line.

"Number two was defending the three-point line, especially those corner threes. They were 3-of-17 from the three-point line. And then we said we wanted to be able to push the ball in the open court, force some turnovers. We forced 16 turnovers. We had 21 fastbreak points."

Spencer Hawes was the only other Sixer in double figures besides Holiday, going for 13. Brand finished with 17 rebounds to go with eight points.

Duncan led the Spurs with 16, while Gary Neal, formerly of La Salle and Antonio McDyess came off the bench to score 11 each.

While most of the Sixers' big wins this season have been in games where the points were there for the taking, this is really the first low-scoring, dogfight-type win over a very good team they can boast about.

"That was a big win for us," said Brand, who tied his season high in rebounds. "After the Orlando loss [Wednesday night], [Collins] said, 'Good job and now we have the team with the best record in the NBA coming in and we don't lose back-to-back games at home.' He's that confident in us. And we didn't."

The Sixers are now 17-9 at home and have won eight of their last 11 games. They will play at the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight, then at Memphis on Tuesday and Houston on Wednesday before splitting for the All-Star break.

Collins has talked about what a key stretch it is and now they have a win over the league's best team to ride into those final three games. If the defense can continuen to emulate the performance it gave against the Spurs even slightly, the Sixers should be in good shape.

"We're starting to communicate a little bit defensively," said Iguodala, who, despite shooting 2-for-15 from the field, collected seven points and six assists. "When you're playing good teams like that I think it's in your mind that you have to play close to perfect, especially defensively."

They did just that. In the first meeting between these two teams earlier this season, Ginobili and Parker accounted for 42 points in a blowout win by the Spurs.

Last night, they had just 17. And, of course, the outcome was much different. Mostly due to the Sixers' defense, with a large helping hand from Holiday's offense.

"I am so, so happy for Jrue Holiday," said Collins of his point guard, who shot 9-for-14, 3-for-4 from three. "We ran the first play of the game for him and he came up and had a wide-open jump shot and knocked it down. But forget the offense."

Collins went on to talk about the defensive effort. That's the kind of night it was. One that was down and dirty. One that mudders win.

The Sixers wore their road red uniforms for "Go Red Night" to raise awareness for heart disease . . . The line of the night went to coach Doug Collins when he said that he would talk to Spurs coach and good friend Greg Popovich on the phone and see how the Sixers can get better because "We don't see each other again until the Finals." . . . The crowd was a hefty 15,501.

For more Sixers coverage, read the Daily News' Sixers blog, Sixerville, at www.philly.com/Sixerville.

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