76ers knock off Suns for 2nd victory of the season

Rejoice, Philadelphia 76ers fans. Victory is yours once again.

The Sixers - whose 1-30 record was the worst to open a season in NBA history - managed to win a ball game for just the second time on Saturday night, defeating the Phoenix Suns (12-20) at Talking Stick Resort Arena by a score of 111-104.

Isaiah Cannon led the way with 20 points on an efficient 6-of-12 shooting from the field and 4-of-8 from behind the arc, while Ish Smith - who lead assistant Mike D'Antoni pushed hard for the team to acquire - chipped in 14 points and five assists of his own.

The Suns were rocked hard by injury early in the game when guard Eric Bledsoe exited in the second quarter after spraining his left knee and falling to the floor.

The 26-year-old Kentucky product is leading the Suns in scoring this season with 20.9 points, along with 6.3 dimes and 4.1 rebounds in 30 appearances. His departure, therefore, left a void that his teammates were simply unable to fill.

Philadelphia was without its leading scorer in rookie Jahlil Okafor, who sat due to a right knee issue. The team also lost power forward Richaun Holmes to a sprained right knee, so it's not as if the Sixers were operating at full strength themselves.

Phoenix only converted 38.6 percent of its shot attempts, marking the fifth time this season the 76ers have held an opponent under 40 percent shooting. Sixers head coach Brett Brown got strong contributions from his bench, with Nik Stauskas and Carl Landry combining for 33 points and 12 rebounds, while Nerlens Noel held down the fort in the starting frontcourt with a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds.

The Utah Jazz are next on the schedule for Philadelphia, who will look to win back-to-back games for the first time since March 20.