76

Final 1 2 3 4 Tot Charlotte 17 20 17 22 76 Philadelphia 23 15 25 24 87

87

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Bobcats-76ers Preview

By JEFF BARTL

(AP) -- Doug Collins has made plenty of lineup adjustments given the amount of injuries that have hit his Philadelphia 76ers, who have generally handled those rotation changes pretty well.

The Charlotte Bobcats are having trouble winning no matter who is in uniform.

Philadelphia looks to send visiting Charlotte to a seventh straight loss by earning a fifth consecutive victory in this series Saturday night.

Already playing without Andrew Bynum, who has yet to suit up for the team, the 76ers (21-27) have had to work around injuries to Thaddeus Young and Jason Richardson recently.

Young is expected to miss three weeks with a left hamstring strain and Richardson, who had missed the past eight games, will have season-ending left knee surgery.

The ailments have given others like Nick Young and Spencer Hawes a chance to crack the starting lineup recently. Each has started the last six games, and Collins plans to go with Hawes and Lavoy Allen in the frontcourt for at least the near future.

"We've got to keep sticking together, and it just means more opportunities for other players," said Evan Turner, who is the only Sixer to start each of the team's 48 games. "During tough times you just have to keep fighting."

Philadelphia signed Jeremy Pargo to a 10-day contract on Thursday and he is expected to get some time Saturday.

"Pargo had a great practice, brought a lot of energy," Collins said. "He can create some minutes where Jrue (Holiday) doesn't have to handle the ball as much, and I'd even like to have them play some together. It gives us two players out there at the same time with speed and quickness."

Holiday scored a game-high 19 points Wednesday but shot just 7 of 22, and he was hardly the only one who struggled in an 88-69 loss to Indiana as the 76ers were denied a season-high fourth straight win for the fourth time.

Turner had perhaps his worst game of the season, hitting 1 of 10 from the field and scoring only two points. He's totaled 20 points over his last four games - shooting 25.0 percent - after averaging 22.0 over his previous three.

"People want to keep talking about how I'm a bust or whatever just to keep the conversation going," Turner said. "That talk can go out the window along with everything else."

Turner had a strong effort in a 104-98 win over Charlotte on Nov. 30, scoring 25 points and grabbing 10 rebounds as the Bobcats were in the early stages of their 18-game skid.

Charlotte (11-38) has dropped 33 of its last 37 after blowing a 20-point second-half lead in a 100-93 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. Byron Mullens and Gerald Henderson each had 20 points for the Bobcats, who have allowed their last five opponents to shoot 51.7 percent.

"We had them down pretty much the whole game," said Kemba Walker, who scored 18 points. "They made a really good run."

Charlotte is averaging 90.0 points during its six-game skid and just 84.8 while dropping its last four versus Philadelphia.

The 76ers have given up only 78.3 points per game over their last four.

Updated February 9, 2013