Chicago Bulls

For as difficult as it has been during the last few weeks to explain just what was wrong with the Philadelphia 76ers, it was equally - if not more - difficult to figure out how the Sixers could come into the United Center in an absolute must-win situation and crush the Chicago Bulls.

Hard to believe, but true. The Sixers, playing without Chris Webber, enjoyed arguably Chicago's poorest offensive performance of the season and ran away with an 89-75 victory on Saturday night to pull into a tie with the Bulls for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Allen Iverson scored 39 points for the Sixers, who broke a three-game losing streak and won for only the fifth time in their last 18 games. The Bulls saw their four-game winning streak end.

The two teams are now tied at 35-41 with six games to play. The Sixers' win enabled them to split the season series with Chicago at 2-2, but they trailed the Bulls in the second tiebreaker, record within the conference.

But for last night, a win that was desperately needed was achieved.

"What a difference a day makes," said coach Maurice Cheeks, who was last seen after Friday night's loss to Boston sitting in a trance-like state on the bench after the final buzzer and in the interview room.

"We needed it bad, coming in here to play a team that had just got to our home court and beat us and realizing the situation we're in," he said. "We were a little dejected, a little down, and I told our guys, until we're mathematically out, we still have a chance. That was a total team effort."

The Bulls were just horrible from the field, missing their share of wide-open looks and shooting 32.6 percent, a season-low by a Sixers opponent. Their top two scorers coming in, guards Ben Gordon and Kirk Hinrich, were a combined five of 23 and scored 14 points.