Sixers refuse to be counted out

After suffering through the embarrassment of two horrific defeats just days before, the 76ers spent the weekend trying to prove, maybe to themselves and their coaches more than their fans, that they still had a pulse.

And judging from their back-to-back wins Friday and Saturday nights over Charlotte and Miami, the Sixers do have a pulse, even if they don't play pristine basketball most of the time.

As they did in their 106-97 home win Friday over the Bobcats, the Sixers used one overpowering half to get the job done Saturday in Miami. In this case, it was the second half, when they held the injury-riddled Heat to 30.2 percent shooting, including 2 of 20 from three-point range, to successfully rally from a 19-point second-quarter deficit.

The victory marked the Sixers' largest comeback of the season. While it was the eighth time they had recovered from being down by 10 or more points to win, it was only the second time they did it on the road (along with Dec. 29 at Portland).

Perhaps a more amazing statistic is the fact that the Sixers posted just their fourth win of the season (against 35 losses) in games they had trailed after three quarters. Conversely, the Heat lost for only the second time in 20 games at home in which they led going into the fourth.

"We should just give ourselves credit on the way we just stepped up and switched the game around in the second half," said Andre Iguodala, the Sixers' leading scorer, who returned from a one-game absence because of a lower back strain and had 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists in 46 minutes.

"We fought hard tonight," center Steven Hunter said. "We really worked hard for this win and we were able to pull it off."

Hunter was one of the hardest workers, leaning and pushing against the 7-foot-1, 325-pound frame of Shaquille O'Neal for most of his 37 minutes on the floor before he fouled out with 1 minute, 4 seconds to play. He had a heavier responsibility because Samuel Dalembert, mired in foul trouble, played less than four minutes in the second half.

"He's just a big man, one of the biggest men on the planet," Hunter, no slouch himself at 7 feet and 240 pounds, said of O'Neal. "It's hard to move him, almost impossible to move him. Once he gets close to the basket, you've got to foul him or he'll score. That's why Shaq is Shaq."

Another feature of O'Neal, albeit a negative one, is his poor free-throw shooting. O'Neal officially made just two of nine attempts from the line in the game but missed three others that were nullified because of lane violations against the Sixers.

With Dalembert in foul trouble, veteran Joe Smith saw increased playing time and led the Sixers with 13 rebounds to go with 12 points. Smith pulled down eight boards in the pivotal second half when the Sixers held a 26-18 advantage underneath, as opposed to getting pasted by 24-12 in the first half.

The win was the result of contributions from a lot of guys. Willie Green kick-started the Sixers' comeback with a pair of three-balls in the third quarter. Iguodala scored 10 points in the same period, and Kyle Korver tallied 11 in the fourth. Andre Miller drilled a key 18-footer with 45 seconds left to put the Sixers up by five.

For the second straight night, this didn't look like the same team that lost by 50 to Houston and folded in the second half at Detroit, especially after being down by 49-34 to the Heat at the half and appearing to be headed to another big defeat.

"I think those were lessons in both games as far as keep competing, keep fighting," Iguodala said. "I knew you guys [reporters] would get on us if we lost by that much. But we had a whole half left, which is plenty of time coming back from 15 down and we knew we had to chip [the deficit] down piece by piece."

The Sixers have followed a 1-4 stretch with a pair of victories to boost their winning percentage to .400, the first time it's been that high since Nov. 24. It also marked the fourth time this season (in 18 attempts) they've won on successive nights in back-to-back games.

The Sixers resume action Wednesday night in Washington against the Wizards.