WASHINGTON — Andre Iguodala scored 22 points, including a flying dunk and a 3-point buzzer-beater during a third-quarter spurt, and had 11 assists and nine rebounds to help the Philadelphia 76ers snap a four-game losing streak Wednesday night with a 106-98 win over the Washington Wizards.
The victory completed the 76ers’ four-game sweep of the Wizards, reinforcing the fact that Philadelphia’s early season coaching change has paid off much better than Washington’s. Tony DiLeo improved to 19-14 with Philadelphia, while Washington’s Ed Tapscott fell to 12-34 in the battle of interim coaches.
Andre Miller scored 17 points, Louis Williams had 16 points, and Samuel Dalembert finished with 11 points and 13 rebounds as the 76ers improved to .500 on the season with their first victory since the All-Star break.
The 76ers led the entire second half, taking control with a 12-0 run that began late in the third quarter. Iguodala provided two quick highlights, the first coming when he sliced through the Wizards defense and flew down the middle of the lane for a one-handed slam.
Then, with the Wizards playing for the last shot in the quarter, Iguodala stole the ball from Mike James, dribbled as far as he could with timing running down and launched a 31-foot shot that beat the clock and gave the 76ers an 82-67 lead going into the fourth. It didn’t make up for the several losses in dying seconds that Philadelphia has suffered this season — including the half-court shot by New Jersey’s Devin Harris on Monday — but Iguodala and his teammates had a little bit extra in their celebration.
Caron Butler scored 17, Antawn Jamison had 16, and Dominic McGuire picked up 14 points and 14 rebounds for the Wizards, who were done in by 21 turnovers, including nine in the third quarter.
Washington started the game by taking an 11-3 lead, but the first of four first-quarter dunks from Dalembert got Philadelphia going. Butler hit a desperate 3-pointer with 2 seconds left to give the Wizards a 29-26 lead at the end of the period.
The highlight of the second quarter was a behind-the-back pass from Washington’s Andray Blatche to set up a dunk by JaVale McGee. Williams sparked the 76ers with nine points in the period, and Philadelphia led 56-53 at the break.
Notes: The 76ers are 1-2 after three games of a four-game road
trip. … Philadelphia swept Washington for the first time since the 2002-03 season. … The crowd was announced as 16,505, but the Wizards’ miserable season is contributing to thousands of no-shows. In the same arena the night before, another Philadelphia-Washington game — Flyers vs. Capitals — was hard-ticket-to-get sellout. … The Wizard Girls had to abandon their routine during a first-half timeout when the wrong music starting playing — twice. The dance team finally gave up, waved to the crowd and ran off the court to scattered boos. … The Wizards went 11-for-11 from the free-throw line in the first half.
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