Royal Ivey

For too much of last night's 91-87 victory by the 76ers at the Wachovia Center, the Memphis Grizzlies hung around like a bad house guest: unwelcomed and oblivious. A four-quarter tussle was not what the 76ers (27-24) had planned for their final game before the all-star break, their last contest in a seven-game homestand. The Sixers wanted to literally run Memphis from the court. But there were the Grizzlies (15-37), with their second-leading scorer, Rudy Gay, in street clothes, ahead by three points with only a handful of possessions left.

Before they could bring energy to the court, Kareem Rush, Willie Green, Reggie Evans, Royal Ivey and Lou Williams brought it to the sideline. Before they could grab rebounds, steal passes, and pester the Indiana Pacers, they stood for made buckets and shouted encouragement. They did so, even when doing so appeared in vain. Last night, the 76ers did the undoable: They defeated the Pacers, 94-92, after staring at a deficit nearly as deep as Indiana's proud basketball tradition.

P.J. Tucker's shot in the lane at the overtime buzzer was ruled good after officials watched the replay for several minutes, and No. 18 Texas beat No. 25 Providence (R.I.), 79-77, last night in one of the wildest games of the season. Donnie McGrath hit a three-pointer with 3.7 seconds left in the overtime to bring host Providence into a 77-77 tie. Texas inbounded the ball under its own basket after a timeout and Tucker, a freshman, took the pass at the opposite three-point line.

The drought, at last, is over. The 76ers, in search of back-to-back wins for what has seemed an eternity, defeated the Sacramento Kings on Friday at the Wells Fargo Center, 89-80, giving the team its first two-game winning streak in more than two months. Before Friday, the Sixers (20-26) hadn't won games in succession since sweeping a trio of games against Phoenix, Dallas, and Charlotte from Nov. 25 to 30. The only team in the league to have a longer such stretch is Charlotte, which started an 18-game losing streak the same week the Sixers last won back-to-back games before Friday night.

With players such as Andre Iguodala and Lou Williams gone, the 76ers will put the ball in Jrue Holiday's hands a lot more than they did last season. "Last year we had three or four guys who could handle the ball," Sixers coach Doug Collins said after the team's practice Friday afternoon at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. "In many instances, Jrue would give the ball up and get off the ball. Then maybe Lou might handle it, or 'Dre, or Evan [Turner] might handle it. " But Collins wants Holiday, who scored 27 points in the Sixers' preseason-opening, 102-95 victory in Orlando on Thursday, to be the primary ball handler this season because he believes the Sixers are better when he has the ball.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The 76ers tidied up a near-perfect preseason on Monday night and just as quickly tucked it behind them. Jason Richardson popped in 23 points - including six three-pointers - and Thaddeus Young added 22 as the Sixers topped the New York Knicks, 98-90, in an exhibition contest at Syracuse University's Carrier Dome. The contest put a bow on the Sixers' preseason games, a series of tests that the team easily passed with a 6-1 mark. "I mean, we had a good preseason," said Sixers guard Royal Ivey.

Keith Glass says that in 27 years representing players, he has received one gift after completing a contract negotiation. "A pen, with my name engraved on it, from Royal Ivey's mom," he said. "The running gag now is, I get a pen from her for every contract Royal signs. When he signed with the 76ers, I said, 'Do I get another one?' " That's Glass' gift. Ivey's gift is his ability to play defense. He has never averaged more than 5.6 points per game, but he is in his fifth season in the NBA, the first three with Atlanta, last season with Milwaukee.

It's good that 76ers rookie Arnett Moultrie is on a bit of roll. However, it's not good at all that his play was the most noteworthy element of the team's latest effort, a 109-101 loss to the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center. Buried on the bench for most of the season, Moultrie scored 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting on a night when the Sixers fell 71/2 games off the pace for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The playoffs seem more unlikely every time the Sixers (23-36)

Jrue Holiday wanted to finish strong. Like his 76ers teammates, Holiday had been in the huddle midway through the fourth quarter when coach Doug Collins admonished them about their inability to win the second game of back-to-backs. So Holiday, who had struggled to score just three points through three quarters, ratcheted his game up in the fourth quarter, scoring 11 of his 14 points to lead the 76ers to a 100-92 victory over the lowly Charlotte Hornets in front of 16,764 Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center.