Nick Young added 20 points for the Wizards as they snapped a two-game skid despite playing without Caron Butler, who sat out with a sore right ankle.
Louis Williams' layup pulled Philadelphia to 108-107 with 40 seconds remaining. After Gilbert Arenas committed a turnover with 28 seconds left, Williams missed a potential game-winning 3-pointer as the final buzzer sounded.
There was a moment of silence before the national anthem was played at Verizon Center, which Pollin built mostly with his own money.
"He would want us to celebrate his life and not mourn his death," Wizards coach Flip Saunders said. "That's just the individual he was. But when you're here going through it, it's not that easy."
Pollin's death rendered trite the recent bickering among the Wizards, who had lost eight of nine. Arenas and Butler have appeared at odds over how to play under Saunders' new offensive system, and Arenas took a swipe at his teammate on Monday by saying: "For the most part, we all get along. There are, what, 15 players on the team? Fourteen do."
The game was Sixers coach Eddie Jordan's first against his former team since he was fired by the Wizards one year ago to the day. Jordan's 97 coaching victories rank third in Wizards history and he led the 76ers into the arena with a heavy heart.
"I had a very close relationship with him," Jordan said before the game. "It's adversity for me to overcome to focus in and prepare and get a clear head and get my team to play at a high level."
Pollin hired Jordan, a Washington native, to coach his team before the 2003-04 season.
"He hired me to come back to coach a team that I'm a big fan of, my hometown team," Jordan said. "It was a 10-minute interview and I shook his hand. He said, 'You know I don't live by contracts, I go by handshakes.' And I walked out and said, 'Gee, did I take a job, or what happened there?'
"His team won a championship and he was part of it, so he knew what it took to win, and he wanted to win a championship in a very passionate way. He was really intent on winning another championship. That's what he always used to say, 'I want to win another championship.' And believe it or not, that's the way we thought, too. Sometimes it takes some steps. You just can't do it overnight, and he did the necessary steps to win."
The 76ers pulled to 100-97 on Rodney Carney's 3-pointer with 3:16 remaining. Jrue Holiday made a 3 and followed with a tip-in after stripping the ball from Arenas to draw Philadelphia to 98-94 with 4:26 left.
Williams led the Sixers with 26 points.
The Wizards took a 90-79 lead early in the fourth on JaVale McGee's dunk and Randy Foye's 3-pointer.
Young had seven points as the Wizards went on a 14-5 run to take control midway through the third quarter.
Samuel Dalembert had 12 points and six rebounds to lead the 76ers to a 46-45 halftime lead. Neither team led by more than four points in the first half.
Young had seven points and Arenas added six to lead Washington to a 23-22 lead after one. Dalembert shot 4-for-5 from the field for eight first-quarter points.
Notes
The Sixers swept the Wizards in four games last season. … Javaris Crittenton (strained tendon in his left foot), Mike James (left hand) and Mike Miller (strained left calf) missed the game for Washington. … Jason Kapono (left ankle sprain) made a game-time decision to play for Philadelphia. Marreese Speights (sprained left knee) missed his fourth straight game.