News and Features

Philadelphia 76ers (1) vs. Orlando Magic (0)

Arena: Amway Arena
Date: Wednesday, April 22
Tip off: 7:00 PM
TV: CSN
Radio: 610 WIP

In 1999, sixth-seed Philadelphia shocked third-seed Orlando 3-1 in the first round. Encouraged by the past, the 76ers played inspired basketball against the Magic in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals in route to a 100-98 win over the Magic, Sunday night in Orlando.

With the game tied 98-98, Philadelphia called a timeout to set up one final play. Everyone in attendance and watching the game knew who was going to get the ball with the game on the line, Andre Iguodala. Iguodala, who missed two free throws with about a minute left, wanted nothing more then the chance to hit the game-winning shot and redeem himself.

What quality do all great players possess? A short lived memory.

With just seconds remaining, Philadelphia put the ball into the hands of emerging superstar Andre Iguodala. Tightly guarded by Hedo Turkoglu, Iguodala waited for the clock to tick down, took a few dribbles to his right and let go a 22-foot rainbow. Swish, nothing by net! Orlando was left stunned, and their fans silenced as the Sixers rallied from an 18-point deficit to shock the Magic in Game 1 of their opening-round playoff series.

“He (Andre Iguodala) had his mind focused,” said head coach Tony DiLeo. He was all set. He was ready to go and we just wanted to get our offensive players in the game. His mindset was he was going to go and he was going to score.”

While the Sixers are thrilled to beat a team that had 18 more regular-season wins than them, the 76ers would like to head home with a 2-0 lead.

“Our team has confidence,” DiLeo said. “They want to win the series. We won’t back down. We’ll come out Wednesday (for Game 2) and play as hard as we can and let the chips fall where they may.”

Trailing 79-65 going into the fourth quarter, DiLeo inserted 3-point sharp-shooter Donyell Marshall to fuel a heroic comeback.

“You’ve got to understand, when I come into the game we’re usually down 15 points,” Marshall joked. “So my job is just to come in and shoot.”

“He turned the game around,” said DiLeo. “He spread the floor for us offensively. Guys could not help as much. I am not surprised. He’s a professional. He’s always ready to play.”

The Sixers’ game plan was for Samuel Dalembert and Theo Ratliff to single-cover Dwight Howard (31 points, 16 rebounds) as much as possible. While Howard was a huge factor, not doubling him allowed the other 76ers to better contest the outside shooters that had hurt them in the regular season.

Philly was outscored by an average of 20 points on three-pointers in three regular-season losses to the Magic, but scored six more points beyond the arc (21-15) in Sunday’s victory.

“Our defensive schemes were better and all the little things were better,” DiLeo said.

Andre Iguodala, who hit the game-winning jumper with 2.2 seconds left, made sure to remind everybody that the Sixers also won Game 1 at Detroit last year, only to lose the series in six games.

“We’ve been in this situation before,” Iguodala said. “We still have to stay confident in ourselves and keep pushing.”