Sixers cruise past Charlotte

Recently, 76ers coach Doug Collins has been trying to figure out when, during the course of this compressed season, he will be able to rest his players.

He probably never thought he would be able to find respite for them during games the way he did on Friday night against the lowly Charlotte Bobcats.

Gone midway through the fourth quarter were Andre Iguodala, Elton Brand, Lou Williams, and Thaddeus Young. In their place, Collins populated the court with the likes of Lavoy Allen, Craig Brackins, and Andres Nocioni.

The 89-72 beating the Sixers (13-6) administered to the Bobcats (3-17) at the Wells Fargo Center was so one-sided - the Sixers led by 26 points at the start of the fourth quarter - that even recently signed center Francisco Elson got to shake the rust off his body for almost four minutes in the fourth quarter.

Williams led the Sixers with 17 points. Jrue Holiday, who spent most of the fourth quarter seated alongside Williams with a towel draped over his shoulders, added 15 points, five rebounds, and four steals. Jodie Meeks added 14 points, and Thaddeus Young finished with 10.

The Bobcats were led by Kemba Walker's 14 points.

Even though they have yet to lose back-to-back games this season, the Sixers were still smarting from an overtime loss to the New Jersey Nets on Wednesday. It was their third loss in their last six games, and Collins had been voicing concerns that his team had not been using the same ball movement that had helped them win nine of 10 games.

That never became a factor against the Bobcats, a team that the lowly Washington Wizards dismantled, 92-75, on Wednesday in their first game since the firing of coach Flip Saunders.

The Sixers have had some bad teams come into the Wells Fargo Center this season, and this week in particular - the Wizards quickly come to mind. The Bobcats have been playing as poorly as any of them.

They have won just two games this month, and had it not been for a victory against the Golden State Warriors on Jan. 14 they would have come in to Friday night's game riding a 13-game losing streak.

Making their predicament even worse, the Bobcats are banged up. On Friday, they were without second-leading scorer D.J. Augustin, who is averaging 13.6 points per game.

Charlotte coach Paul Silas waited until late in the second quarter to draw a pair of technical fouls, resulting in his ejection.

Silas deserves some credit for lasting that long, particularly after the Sixers held Charlotte to just 10 points (a first-quarter low for an opponent) on 4-for-19 shooting.

Down by 13 at the start of the second quarter, Charlotte cut the Sixers' lead to 30-21 on Derrick Brown's floating jumper.

That would be the last single-figure margin of the game.

With Williams scoring 10 points in the quarter, the Sixers built a lead that would be the difference for the rest of the game.

It started when Young, still bothered by a bruised lower back he suffered against New Jersey, soared in for a slam dunk.

Young's basket seemed to be just the impetus the Sixers needed, sparking a 23-8 Philadelphia run that concluded with Meeks' three-pointer swishing through the net to give the Sixers a 53-29 advantage with 2 minutes, 39 seconds left in the half.

The Sixers scored just 18 points in the third quarter on 7-for-19 shooting. But as mediocre as they were, Charlotte was even worse, connecting on just 6 of 19 field-goal attempts (31.6 percent) and scoring just 14 points, and trailed by 26 points heading into the fourth quarter.