Magic just too much for Sixers

Because the Orlando Magic are one of the NBA's best teams, tonight the 76ers delivered some of their better play.

It wasn't good enough to win, it wasn't good enough to threaten to win, but it was good enough to prevent a blowout.

Right now, that's as good as it gets for the Sixers, who suffered a 109-93 defeat at the Wachovia Center.

With the loss - remarkably the prettiest in some time - the Sixers dropped to 24-47. Since Feb. 10, their record is 4-16. They are 11-24 at home this season.

The Sixers cut the Orlando lead to 100-92 on a pull-up jumper by Rodney Carney with 3 minutes, 30 seconds remaining. Seconds later, a thunderous dunk by Orlando center Dwight Howard pushed the lead back to double digits and, essentially, ended any further threat. The Magic improved to 50-21, second only to Cleveland in the NBA's Eastern Conference.

Tonight, Andre Iguodala played better than he has in weeks, finishing with 23 points on 8-for-14 shooting with six rebounds and six assists. Howard finished with 23 points and 15 rebounds, and Orlando finished the game shooting 16 for 31 (51.6 percent) from beyond the arc.

The Sixers followed a decent first quarter with a decent second quarter and found themselves trailing the Magic by only 56-47 at halftime. That score seemed like a small victory for a team that has found actually winning a game an incredibly difficult proposition since the all-star break.

The Sixers stayed in the game using their frontcourt of Elton Brand and Samuel Dalembert.

After the first quarter, the Sixers were leading Orlando in points in the paint, outscoring the Magic by 18-4. By halftime, the Sixers were ahead in that category, 24-14. Brand and Dalembert combined for 29 first-half points and 10 first-half rebounds.

Brand finished the game with 23 points, Dalembert with 16 points and 14 rebounds.

Brand scored 18 points in the first half, making 8 of 12 shots and scoring in a variety of ways: little pull-up jumpers, offensive rebounds, and dunks in the paint.

Dalembert finished the first half 5 for 6 from the field.

No matter how almost-dominant the Sixers' post presence seemed, they managed only to keep pace with Howard, who had 13 points and 10 rebounds by halftime. Coupled with Orlando forward Matt Barnes and Rashard Lewis, who scored nine points each and missed only two shots between them in the half, the Magic seemed unbeatable.

Orlando finished the first half 7 for 12 from beyond the arc, good for 58.3 percent shooting, and 15 for 20 from the free-throw line.

The Sixers seemed to have played as well as they were capable and still they were only a quick burst from trailing by 15-plus points.