Allen Iverson turned the boos to cheers and the Philadelphia 76ers turned back the Utah Jazz.
Iverson returned from a one-game suspension to score 24 points, including a clutch 3-pointer with two minutes to go, as the 76ers pulled away for a 99-97 victory over the Jazz, who had a nine-game winning streak snapped.
Iverson missed a shootaround and was suspended by 76ers coach Larry Brown for Thursday's 92-77 loss at Miami. Iverson called the team and said he had a headache, but Brown suspended him anyway for an accumulation of trangressions.
Upset that he was not trusted by management, the NBA's scoring leader received a smattering of boos when he was introduced before tonight's game.
"That's the way life is. You can't satisfy everybody," Iverson said. "There is going to be a billion fans out here that love Allen Iverson and a billion that hate him. Once you start worrying about the ones that hate you, that's when you start to lose focus."
"That was the worst thing that could happen," Brown said. "It had to be hard. I didn't particularly listen but Randy (assistant coach Randy Ayers) mentioned it. ... You hope there is closure to it and it's over. And the way he played, I didn't hear anybody complaining."
Iverson won over the crowd with an excellent floor game that included 4-of-5 shooting from 3-point range and a season-high nine assists.
"He played his best all-around game, to be perfectly honest with you," Brown said. "He made the other people better. He made big shots and I think it's a tribute to him that he could play under those circumstances."
"I was real ready to play this game," said Iverson, who was 8-of-20 from the field. "We've never beat Utah since I've been here."
Iverson helped the 76ers beat the Jazz at their own game -- offensive execution down the stretch. Philadelphia answered nearly every basket by Utah with one of its own and ended a five-game losing streak in the series.
"We did a really great job," said Brown, who tied Jazz coach Jerry Sloan on the all-time list with 718 victories. "They are as good as anybody in the league in execution and they made plays. I did a hell of a job in late-game situations with substituting offense-defense. They scored on our defensive team every trip but we got it done. I didn't think it would be easy."
"They deserved to win. They outplayed us and outworked us," Sloan said. "We didn't do the things down the stretch that give you a chance to win. We played like winning wasn't important to us."
The Jazz had a chance to cut the deficit to three points but Karl Malone missed a pair of free throws. Utah appeared to have Iverson trapped, but he spun through two defenders and drove before firing a behind-the-back pass to Theo Ratliff, who dunked for an 88-81 lead with 3:40 remaining.
A 3-pointer by John Stockton cut the deficit to 90-85 with 2:37 to play but Iverson answered with a 3-pointer and put his hand to his ear, calling for cheers from the First Union Center crowd.
Iverson added another basket for a 97-89 lead with 59 seconds to go and the Sixers withstood eight points from sharpshooting Jeff Hornacek to improve to 15-7 in games decided by three points or less.
"I told him that everybody in that locker room respects him for the way he competes every night so we have to go from here and all make a commitment to get this thing over with," Brown said. "Every time I've ever been involved with him in a situation like this, he's responded really favorably. You're going to have slippage that happens. He's 24 years old, you have to remember that. I don't know many 24-year-olds that are in a position he is with so much scrutiny."
Philadelphia's Toni Kukoc scored 14 points and led a bench that outscored Utah's reserves, 33-17. Tyrone Hill and Theo Ratliff scored 12 points apiece for the Sixers, who shot 50 percent (41-of-82) and made 11-of-12 free throws.
Malone had 31 points and 13 rebounds and Hornacek scored 16 points for the Jazz, who had not lost since February 27 at Portland and fell to 3-1 on their five-game road trip. Utah shot 45 percent (34-of-76) and held a 43-36 rebounding edge.
"We lose by two points and I miss six free throws (out of 15)," Malone said. "That's what I'll think about. They did a lot of things down the stretch to win this ballgame. They got the offensive rebounds and made big shots."
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Allen Iverson bounced back from a rare
subpar effort and scored 39 points as the Philadelphia 76ers
posted a 114-110 victory over the Indiana Pacers, who have
suffered consecutive losses for the first time in 15 months.
Iverson, who leads the league in scoring at 28.1 points per
game, had only 14 in Monday's 74-73 loss to Orlando. Tonight,
he scored 10 in the fourth quarter as Philadelphia overcame an
eight-point deficit.
George Lynch had 21 points and Tyrone Hill added 17 for
Philadelphia, which defeated a team with a winning record for
only the fifth time in 13 games. The 76ers snapped a 10-game
losing streak against Indiana, defeating the Pacers for just the
second time since January 15, 1994.
"That was my first time beating Indiana," said Iverson. "It was
real special.
"I really wanted to get the win for coach. He hasn't beaten
them since he arrived here," Iverson said of Sixers coach Larry
Brown, who coached the Pacers for four seasons until 1997.
Iverson was then alerted to the fact that his team has never won
a game in which he scored 40 points.
"I was saying to myself, 'I hope I don't get over the 40 mark
and we lose.' Maybe God was sending me and the team a message,
when I score over 40 we can't win so I'll take the 39 any day
for a win."
"(Iverson) is playing with a lot of confidence," said Pacers
center Rik Smits. "He has the green light to do anything he
wants. When you let him go, he's tough to guard. We like to
think we have a decent defense yet we still gave him almost 40
points."
Reggie Miller scored 27 points and Smits added 22 for Indiana,
which had not dropped two straight games since December 8-10,
1997. The Pacers lost for just the second time in their last
seven road games and fell to 6-4 away from home.
"Both teams went after it," said Miller. "This was more high
scoring than we expected. We thought it was going to be more of
a defensive game, but both teams lit it up from the offensive
end."
The 76ers opened the fourth quarter trailing 91-83 but used a
9-0 burst to seize the lead. Theo Ratliff drained a 16-footer
and Hill followed with a layup. Lynch, the goat in Monday's
loss, sank a long 3-pointer to get Philadelphia within 91-90.
Eric Snow's driving layup gave Philadelphia a one-point lead and
the advantage was never more than four points the rest of the
way. Miller sank a 3-pointer with 9.6 seconds left to draw
Indiana within 112-110, but Snow sealed the victory with a pair
of free throws with 8.8 seconds remaining.
"The great thing about the league is playing again right away,"
said Lynch. "You get to forget about mistakes. You're only as
good as your next game and it was nice to see we could win a
close game."
In Monday's 74-73 loss to the Magic, Lynch threw away an
inbounds pass that allowed Orlando's Darrell Armstrong to hit
the game-winning layup as time expired.
Iverson showed early in the contest that his performance on
Monday was nothing more than a momentary lapse in an All-Star
season. He had 14 points in the first quarter as Philadelphia
led 27-24 after 12 minutes.
After allowing Philadelphia to shoot 67 percent (12-of-18) in
the opening quarter, Indiana turned the tables in the second.
The Pacers made 13-of-19 shots in the second quarter to pull
within 60-59 at the break.
Indiana opened the third quarter with a 13-4 burst, extending
its lead to 84-72 with 7:49 left. Two free throws by Miller
with 3:35 remaining gave the Pacers a nine-point edge.
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Rasheed Wallace had 23 points and
11 rebounds as the Portland Trail Blazers withstood a dry spell
in the third quarter and a streaky Philadelphia 76ers team to
post a 108-90 victory that closed out the century.
Steve Smith scored 20 points and Bonzi Wells added a career-high
16 for the Trail Blazers, who extended their winning streak to
four games and won their fourth in a row at home.
"We started out playing the way we wanted to play," Portland
coach Mike Dunleavy said. "Letting them back in was
disappointing but you have got to give them credit. They are a
team that can make some plays. I thought they fought their way
back in the game even though we did get ourselves into some
lulls."
Allen Iverson scored 32 points for Philadelphia, which erased a
25-point second-quarter deficit but was denied its fourth
straight win. The 76ers went 3-1 on their four-game western
trip.
Larry Brown, who notched his 700th coaching win Wednesday at
Golden State, was ejected at the end of the first half after
arguing calls with Hank Armstrong.
"We never got to the line in the first half, and we had
everybody in foul trouble," Brown said. "We had a horrendous
start. But they (the Blazers) had so much to do with it."
Assistant John Calipari took over and watched the 76ers come all
the way back.
Iverson capped a 19-1 run with two free throws to tie the game
at 63-63 with 2:57 remaining in the third period. But the
Blazers, who went almost eight minutes without a basket, closed
the quarter with an 11-0 burst featuring two 3-pointers by
Scottie Pippen and one by Wallace for a 78-66 advantage.
"The big thing for us, of course, was those back-to-back 3s by
Scottie," Dunleavy said. "He pulled up and drained them. They
were really big shots. They are like a dagger in the heart."
"We should never have really let them get back into it," said
Pippen, who finished with 13 points. "We had too much patience
early in the third quarter but we held our composure, battled
back and got ourselves back in the game."
The closest the Sixers got the rest of the way was 84-78 on a
three-point play by Snow and a conversion by Iverson on a
technical foul shot with 6:56 left. However, Wells scored and
Wallace had a three-point play as Portland was never threatened
thereafter.
"Defensively we stepped up when the score was tied at 63," Smith
said. "At the end of the the third quarter, Pip hit a couple of
3s. Greg (Anthony) got a couple of free throws when he drove
the lane and (Wallace) 3-pointer really pumped us up in the
fourth quarter and we came out and played a little more
aggressive."