F Chris Webber and 76ers Coach Jim O'Brien met yesterday to clear the air about Webber's lack of playing time two days earlier against Atlanta.
Webber, recently acquired from Sacramento, played 28 minutes in Philadelphia's 98-97 win over Atlanta. He came out with 3 minutes 38 seconds left in the third quarter, returned with 3:43 left in the fourth and scored four late points to help the 76ers pull out the win.
"Chris has a lot of confidence in himself. He knows what he can bring to the table," O'Brien said. "I have a number of reasons why I do what I do from the standpoint of playing guys a certain amount of minutes. . . . I didn't know it was going to be an issue. It bothered him. So I dealt with it."
Webber averaged 33 minutes in his first five games with Philadelphia; he played an average of 36.3 minutes in 46 games for the Kings earlier this season.
• DEPLETED DALLAS: F Dirk Nowitzki missed the Mavericks' game against Toronto last night because of a bruised left knee, and the team also was without F Michael Finley, G Jerry Stackhouse and C Erick Dampier.
• MOVES: The Bucks signed G Anthony Goldwire and placed C Daniel Santiago on the injured list.
Goldwire, who was signed for the rest of the season, played one game for Milwaukee this season after the team signed him Nov. 2 and then waived him at the end of that month.
He most recently played for the Pistons, averaging two points in nine games. Detroit released him on Jan. 25.
Santiago went on the injured list for an abrasion on his eye that has been bothering him since late November.
-- From News Services
