By CHRISTOPHER A. VITO
cvito@delcotimes.com

PHILADELPHIA — They packed them into Wells Fargo Center on the promise of an Andrew Bynum sighting. And in that regard, they didn’t disappoint.
Neither did the guys who actually played.

Spencer Hawes had a fourth quarter to remember and the 76ers, who nearly coughed up a lead that had swollen to double figures, held off the Denver Nuggets, 84-75, Wednesday night for a season-opening win at Wells Fargo Center.

The Sixers, in crunch time, went to a smaller, more-athletic lineup. What they sacrificed in rebounding, they more than made up for with streaky shooting and transition offense. It wasn’t practical and it wasn’t consistent. It’s the five-man configuration, however, that they’ll have to employ with regularity until Bynum can find the floor.

And in going to that smaller lineup, they had been keeping Hawes off the floor. Hawes, who’s been running with the second team, made his impact in the final seven minutes of the fourth quarter – making shots at one end and blocking them at the other.

Hawes finished with 16 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots. Jrue Holiday also had a double-double, with 14 points and 11 assists, and Thad Young paired 13 points with five rebounds for the Sixers, who won their season opener for the first time in six seasons.

Bynum got his welcome to Philly the same night the Sixers rolled out the red carpet for one of their expatriates. Andre Iguodala, traded to the Nuggets in the offseason, returned to the city where he spent the first eight seasons of his career. Some cheered, most among the 19,101 booed. Iguodala had as difficult of a time finding a fan in the house as the Sixers did pulling down rebounds.

The Sixers, who made a habit of missing open looks in the second quarter, pulled away from the Nuggets for an eight-point lead, 46-38, at halftime by sinking three of their final four shots.

Thad Young had one and so did Hawes, both on feeds from Jrue Holiday. Spencer Hawes also made a 3-pointer inside the final minute, also off a pass from Holiday. The point guard had seven assists (to one turnover) at the break.

All told, the Nuggets were as close to the Sixers in the scoring column because of the rebounding differential. It’s not as though George Karl’s team shot the ball or protected it any better than Collins’ crew. Rather, Denver owned a 33-23 edge on the glass through the opening quarters.

That didn’t deter Collins from going to his smallish starting lineup to open the second half.

Collins rolled the dice that Nuggets 7-footer JaVale McGee and Andre Iguodala wouldn’t have better luck at rebounding than Thad Young, Jason Richardson or Lavoy Allen. And they didn’t, which explained why the Sixers took their biggest lead of the night to that point, 59-47, midway through the third quarter.

They lost some flow in the fourth quarter, when the shots weren’t going down. Dorell Wright bricked a pair of 3-point attempts from the left corner, sandwiching a breakaway layup by Ty Lawson. That cut the Nuggets’ deficit to 68-59. Evan Fournier finished one in the paint on Denver’s next trip up the floor and the Sixers’ cozy lead had been trimmed to 68-61.

Using an 18-6 run to open the fourth quarter, the Nuggets reduced the Sixers’ lead to one, at 71-70 with 7:19 to go.

Then Holiday took it upon himself to right the Sixers’ offense, and spur a 12-2 run that turned the game in the home team’s favor.
Holiday knocked down a runner in the lane, picked up a foul and completed the 3-point play to push the

Sixers’ lead to 74-70. Hawes, after making a pair of free throws, made an open jumper along the baseline on the Sixers’ next possession to make a seven-point game, at 78-71, and they never looked back.

NOTE: The Sixers in pregame introductions read out all 14 rostered players, including wobbly-kneed Andrew Bynum, who picked up applause at deafening levels. Only minutes later, the Sixers welcomed the two bigs who anchored a pair of NBA Finals teams – Moses Malone and Dikembe Mutombo.