Carney making most of playing time with Sixers

PHOENIX - The 76ers' season has resembled the peaks and valleys prominent here on the West Coast, and swingman Rodney Carney is no exception.

There have been games when he plays some meaningful minutes and doesn't contribute much to the box score. Other times he hardly has gotten any minutes at all.

And then there have been the games like Tuesday against Golden State.

Nine times this season Carney has come off coach Eddie Jordan's bench and provided double-figures in scoring. Not a huge number, but in those games, Carney has been somewhat robotic. He comes in and scores his points in blizzard-like fashion, throwing down dunks on the fastbreak and hitting open three-pointers in the halfcourt setup. Tuesday, Carney nailed three treys and scored 16 points in 21 minutes. With the Sixers' bench depleted due to the absence of Allen Iverson (personal reasons), and Willie Green and Jason Smith (injuries), Carney finds himself as a key weapon off the bench.

"I think I've gotten better throughout the year and I think getting extra playing time helps me," Carney said before last night's game in Phoenix against the Suns. "I just do what I can to help the team, and that means getting out on the break, hitting threes, getting to the foul line. I just try to bring energy out there.

"It's easier knowing that I'm going to get the minutes now. When we had a full team, it was kind of hard because the minutes were sporadic with the rotation. Playing time now is kind of definite. It's a little more comforting."

During January and into the early part of this month, few centers in the NBA were playing defense as well as the Sixers' Sam Dalembert. In 16 of 17 games in that span, he grabbed double-figure rebounds, twice notching 20 or more. He was also blocking shots at a league-leading rate.

Through most of those games, Dalembert had to deal with the devastation that the earthquake caused to his native Haiti, in which more than 200,000 people perished. Since the events of Jan. 12, Dalembert has twice been back to visit the ravaged area, and has put in countless hours, when not playing basketball, trying to improve relief efforts.

It would almost be expected to see Dalembert's play slip, more than a month after he's had to deal with one of the toughest times of his life. Lately, Dalembert has battled foul-trouble issues, and thus hasn't played as many minutes.

"I'm still going out there and trying to do the same things, it's just a little difficult," he said. "I've been trying to deal with a bad back a little bit [lower back spasm], and I've never had a bad back before. It happened before, then I thought I got over it, then it happened again.

"I'm doing everything I can, but yeah, sometimes it seems like you just hit that wall and then you find yourself trying to do extra and extra to get prepared. I think I'm ready, it's just sometimes in the games, in different games, you have to find a niche or a spot and when you get to that spot you have to stay there. But sometimes it's hard."

Sixers coach Eddie Jordan said he isn't worried.

"Only the rare ones and the really great ones play at the highest of levels for a long time," Jordan said. "He still is a factor for us defensively. Even if he is not getting the numbers as far as blocked shots, he changes shots and people are aware of him in the paint. He still gets his number of rebounds and we think he's playing at a high level."

The injuries to Willie Green and Jason Smith continue to linger, while both are still considered day-to-day. Green appears close to returning, Smith isn't so sure. "I got on the court a little bit [yesterday] and was able to run a little," said Smith, who hurt the ankle in Toronto on Feb. 10.

Philadelphia University coach Herb Magee will be honored by the Sixers before a game against Oklahoma City on March 30.

On Tuesday, Magee became the winningest coach in NCAA men's college basketball when his team defeated Goldey-Beacom, 76-65. It was win No. 903, which broke the record held by Bobby Knight.

"I've known him since we were freshmen at West Catholic, we played in the same backcourt," said Sixers assistant coach Jim Lynam. "When coach [Jack] Ramsay [then at Saint Joseph's] came to see me play, he said, 'I like him, let's offer him a scholarship.' So he starts describing who he thinks is me, but he's describing Herb. He came back and saw me and then offered me a scholarship. And to this day Herb tells me it's the biggest personnel mistake [Ramsay] ever made."

Magee went on to become an All-America at Textile (now Philadelphia U.) and is considered one of the great shooters and shooting coaches of all time.

So, out of 10 foul shots, how many could Magee knock down, Lynam was asked. "All 10, blindfolded," he said without hesitation.