76ers coach Collins uses Love to inspire his team

PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia 76ers coach Doug Collins just might have turned around his new team's season when he gathered the players for a meeting after a 3-13 start and, one by one, told each player what he expected from them.

This was right after Timberwolves forward Kevin Love recorded the NBA's first 30-point/30-rebound game since Moses Malone did so for Philadelphia in 1982.

"I think I used Kevin as an example," said Collins, who returned to coaching last summer after taking six years off. "I think he'd just come off a 30-plus-rebound game and I was talking about some of our big guys who at that time only had 30 rebounds total. I was just being honest about where I thought we were."

Since that 3-13 start, the 76ers have gone 28-17. Collins was named the Eastern Conference coach of the month Monday after his team went 9-3. It's the fourth time he has won coach of the month but his first since December 2001 with Washington.

Collins also has the Sixers firmly in the seventh playoff spot in the East with a 31-30 record after Friday's 111-100 victory over the Wolves.

Wayne in, Wes out Wolves rookie Wes Johnson missed Friday's game with because of coach Kurt Rambis called food poisoning, which the team officially termed "gastroenteritis."

Wayne Ellington started in his spot, back in Ellington's hometown. He grew up in suburban Philadelphia, played high school ball with Charlotte's Gerald Henderson and on Friday bought or gathered from teammates about 50 tickets for family and friends.

Leaning on Lazar Rookie Lazar Hayward continues to find an expanded role for the Wolves now that Corey Brewer has been traded away, waived by New York and signed by Dallas. Hayward scored 11 points and had six rebounds in nearly 24 minutes off the bench and had a three-pointer that capped a Wolves fourth-quarter comeback and tied the score at 87-87 before Philadelphia ripped off six consecutive points.

"I like Lazar, I've always liked Lazar," Rambis said. "He's going to be in this league a long time. He provides some outside shooting. He's going to be able to put the ball on the floor and post guys up. I like his competitiveness, his toughness, his nastiness. He understands the game."

Etc. • Center Darko Milicic and guard Martell Webster remained back in the Twin Cities while the Wolves continued Friday a three-game trip that ends Saturday in Washington. Milicic has missed the past two games to be with his wife, who gave birth Thursday. Webster continues to be bothered a bad back.