Thaddeus Young scored a career-high 29 points, Samuel Dalembert snapped out of his recent slump, and the Philadelphia 76ers handed the Toronto Raptors their sixth straight loss with a 115-106 victory last night.
Dalembert, who entered the night with only three blocks over the last four games, recorded his 11th double-double of the season with a season-high 19 points, 13 rebounds and four blocked shots. Young was 13-for-19 from the field as Philadelphia (31-31) got back to .500. The 76ers pulled away by making 15 of 22 shots in the second quarter. Chris Bosh was limited to 17 points for Toronto after consecutive 30-point outings.
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No matter how much new coach Alvin Gentry has revved up the Phoenix offence, the Suns can't keep up with the competition in the West.
A five-game losing streak has Phoenix five games behind eighth-place Dallas, entering last night's play, for the final Western Conference playoff berth. With just 18 games to play, and Cleveland coming to town on Thursday night, the Suns are in imminent danger of missing the post-season for the first time since 2004.
Gentry met with his players yesterday, a day after Phoenix's devastating 122-117 home loss to Dallas, to emphasize that all is not yet lost.
"Let's not kid ourselves, we've got an unbelievable uphill battle here," Gentry said, "but we still have 18 games to play."
Steve Nash hasn't missed the playoffs since 1999 and called it "really uncomfortable to be on the outside looking in at this point."
"We're just trying to stay positive and stick together, really, because it's a time when you could fragment or give up," Nash said.
