Cavaliers  108    76ers  101

Cleveland Cavaliers (18-7) at Philadelphia 76ers (6-18), 7 p.m.

Sports Network | December 16, 2009

(Sports Network) - The Philadelphia 76ers were finally able to put an end to a 12-game losing streak in their last trip to the court. Earning a second consecutive win figures to be a challenge, however, with the powerful Cleveland Cavaliers set to enter the Wachovia Center this evening.

Philadelphia's drawn-out slide, the club's longest since a 13-game skid during Allen Iverson's rookie season of 1996-97, was halted with Monday's 117-101 home victory over Golden State. Iverson played a key role in the win, netting 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting in the fourth game of his second stint with the Sixers.

Thaddeus Young led all players with 26 points and 14 rebounds in Monday's triumph, while rookie Jrue Holiday compiled 15 points, seven rebounds and six assists for Philadelphia. The 76ers had seven players score in double figures and outrebounded the Warriors by a staggering 59-26 margin.

"I'm very happy right now, because we've been trying to get this monkey off our back for a while now," said Young. "We were in beast mode [on Monday], we really wanted it and we really went after it."

Now Philadelphia prepares for what should be a tougher assignment in a Cavaliers team that leads the Central Division with an 18-7 record and boasts the NBA's second-leading scorer in superstar LeBron James. Cleveland has also dominated this series in recent years, having registered wins in eight of the last 10 overall meetings between these teams, including a 97-91 decision in Ohio on November 21.

The Cavs have also prevailed in each of their last five visits to the Wachovia Center.

Philadelphia's task would be made even more difficult if leading scorer Andre Iguodala is unable to play this evening. The versatile swingman, who's averaging 19.4 points on the year, bruised his ribs in the first quarter of Monday's win and seemed to be affected by the injury, making only 4-of-20 field goal attempts on the evening.

Cleveland tuned up for tonight's tilt with a 99-89 besting of the lowly New Jersey Nets last night at Quicken Loans Arena. James paved the way with a 23- point, seven-assist, six-rebound effort, with both Shaquille O'Neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas contributing 16 points each from the inside.

The win was Cleveland's third in a row and 10th in its last 13 games.

Philadelphia will be concluding a five-game homestand tonight and is just 4-8 at the Wachovia Center thus far in 2009-10.