Orlando made two trades prior to the game, overhauling its roster in the midst of a slump with moves that involved eight players.
Andre Iguodala scored 21 points and dished out seven assists for Philadelphia, which has won two straight on the road for the first time this season. Elton Brand finished with a double-double, scoring 20 and grabbing 13 rebounds.
The Magic acquired embattled guard Gilbert Arenas from Washington for forward Rashard Lewis, then made a six-player deal with Phoenix that netted them Jason Richardson, Hedo Turkoglu and Earl Clark for Vince Carter, Marcin Gortat, Mickael Pietrus, a first-round draft pick and cash consideration.
"We needed scoring and we needed a little bit more punch," stated Magic president of basketball operations Otis Smith regarding the trades. "Looking at our team we were missing a little bit of something. We lost size but we got scorers and that was important for us."
With their new teammates in transit, the Magic only dressed eight players against the Sixers, getting game-highs of 26 points and 20 rebounds from Dwight Howard and 18 points from Brandon Bass.
Orlando lost for the sixth time in seven games.
Howard scored 12 points in the first quarter and the Magic held a 21-20 advantage heading into the second.
Williams paced the Sixers with 12 of his points in the second, while the rest of Philadelphia shot just 3-of-14 from the field. However, an equally slow quarter from Orlando (7-of-23 shooting) allowed the Sixers to take a 40-39 lead into the half.
Iguodala's three-pointer with 3:10 remaining in the third quarter gave Philadelphia a 65-57 lead. The teams traded baskets down the stretch and Philadelphia took the 71-64 lead into the final stanza.
A Williams' three with 3 1/2 remaining put Philadelphia up 15, its largest lead of the game, but the Magic went on a 10-1 run to trim the deficit to 91-85. The Sixers then made five foul shots -- three from Williams, two from Iguodala -- to widen the gap to 96-85 in the final seconds.
"Our defense was so good tonight," said Sixers head coach Doug Collins. "Scrambling, trying to make Dwight Howard work hard for all of his baskets and our guys rotated. You're not going to look on the stat sheet and see much stats besides Thaddeus Young's name, but he was terrific."
Game Notes
Philadelphia will play eight games in 17 days on its road-trip...Orlando had won eight straight and 12 of the previous 13 in this series...Jameer Nelson scored 17 with nine assists in the loss...Orlando won the rebounding margin 53-39.
Copyright The Sports Network
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