On Tuesday, Aaron McKie had an injection of cortisone to help with the pain and healing of his sprained right rotator cuff. Last night, he delivered the necessary adrenaline to the 76ers, using his force of will to help drive them to an 89-83 overtime victory over the Phoenix Suns at the First Union Center.

McKie scored 14 of his 22 points in the final 17 minutes, ignoring what should have been serious limitations in his offensive game. There are times when he extends his arm to release the ball and feels a click in his shoulder, as if it is locking up. There are times he unabashedly takes the ball to the basket, knowing he is about to absorb heavy contact.

Still, he played 32 of the game's 53 minutes, draining nine of his 19 shots from the floor, scoring an almost miraculous eight points in the 5-minute extra period. From the bench, he could hear coach Larry Brown imploring him to make his moves quickly, reminding him that he didn't have the legs or the strength to, in Brown's words, "dink around out there."

On a night when Derrick Coleman, dragging his painful left knee, missed all six of his shots from the floor after intermission, when Speedy Claxton, feeling queasy, left in the first quarter, when Dikembe Mutombo was trying mightily to play through a variety of aches and pains, McKie was clearly the Sixers' best option.

In a sense, he stopped the bleeding as the Sixers won at home for just the second time in seven games and remained the No. 5 playoff seed in the tightly packed Eastern Conference. They are ahead of Charlotte and Milwaukee - all three teams are 39-35 - based on three-team tiebreakers. Somehow, with eight games remaining in the regular season, they are within 1 1/2 games of No. 4 Orlando.