The New York Knicks got their first look at Dikembe Mutombo in a Philadelphia 76ers uniform. In the end, they saw enough of Allen Iverson.
Without center Marcus Camby to provide his shot-blocking prowess, the Knicks had no second line of defense for Philadelphia's electrifying guard and suffered an 89-82 loss to the 76ers.
The absence of Camby became pronounced in the final minutes after Latrell Sprewell scored eight straight points to pull the Knicks within 79-77.
But Iverson would not let his team fall apart. He hit a 19-foot jumper over Sprewell from the left sideline with 2:57 left.
On New York's next two possessions, the intimidation factor of the 7-foot-2 Mutombo caused Kurt Thomas to go too strong off the backboard on a running layup and Sprewell had a layup attempt partially blocked by George Lynch.
"They did a good job of coming on the weak side to help on the one drive that I had," Sprewell said. "Lynch got a piece of it. And the one Kurt (Thomas) had, Dikembe's presence was felt on that play. Those were two baskets we could have used down the stretch."
Philadelphia's Aaron McKie drove to the basket and converted a layup over Thomas to increase the lead to 83-77 with 2:03 remaining.
Allan Houston, who returned to the lineup after missing three games with a thigh bruise, hit a jumper while he was fouled by Eric Snow and made the free throw to complete the three-point play, pulling the Knicks within 83-80 with 1:41 left.
After a Philadelphia turnover, the Knicks had a chance to tie it but a 3-point attempt by Sprewell rimmed out.
Iverson then isolated on Sprewell at the top of the key, blew right by him and hit a floater in the lane over Glen Rice -- a far cry from a shot-blocking presence like Camby -- with 49 seconds remaining.
"The little kid (Iverson) made two big shots and when they got it within two we made defensive stops," said Sixers coach Larry Brown.
"We played hard enough to win, we just didn't play well enough to win," said Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy. "When the game got tight, Iverson made shots."
Snow and Kevin Ollie each hit a pair of free throws in the final 26 seconds for Philadelphia (55-25), which has already clinched homecourt advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs.
"The guys understand that if I'm going well, I'm going to have the ball in my hand," Iverson said. "If any team doubles me or tries to take something away from me, my teammates are going to make shots. If we do that, we'll be alright going into the playoffs."
The San Antonio Spurs have earned homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs, but the Sixers are still competing with teams like Sacramento (54-25) and the Los Angeles Lakers (54-26) for the homecourt in a possible NBA Finals matchup.
The Knicks squandered an opportunity to tie Miami for the seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Heat, which lost at home to Orlando, 90-73 on Sunday, lead the Knicks by one game with two games left in the regular season.
If the Knicks go into the playoffs as the fourth seed, they would play the Sixers in the second round if both teams advance.
"If we play with that type of effort and energy, it doesn't matter who we play," Sprewell said. "If we do the right things on the floor, it's about us and not who we're playing."
Iverson finished with 27 points. Mutombo was the major reason why the Sixers outrebounded the Knicks, 49-33, grabbing 16 boards.
"I am encouraged when we win with defense and rebounding," Brown said. "That is the only way this team is going to survive."
Camby, New York's 6-11 center, suffered a hip contusion in New York's loss at Indiana last Wednesday and is expected to be sidelined for a week.
Sprewell scored 12 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter for New York.
Houston had 15 points, but missed 11-of-16 shots. Rice was just 4-of-11 from the field.
"We had a lot of wide-open shots, but the ball wasn't going in," Rice said. "You're going to have games like that."
The Knicks raced to a 16-6 lead as the Sixers missed 11 of their first 12 shots.
But Iverson hit a pair of jumpers and two layups and McKie added five points as the Sixers responded with a 13-4 run to pull within 20-19. Rice ended the quarter with a layup for New York
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Vince Carter versus Allen Iverson is the kind of marquee matchup the NBA has been craving since the days of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.
As two of the NBA's most exciting young stars, they are dazzling spectators and TV viewers with limitless creativity and breathtaking moves in the Toronto Raptors-Philadelphia 76ers playoff series.
"This matchup is great, and people are getting turned on to it," said NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik, who was at Philadelphia's First Union Center on Wednesday night, when Iverson scored 54 points to Carter's 28 in the 76ers' 97-92 victory. "For better or worse, fans like it when you get superstars going against each other. People have been hearing about these guys for years now, but they haven't gotten this far before where they met each other at this level. That gets people interested."
"This is special because they both have their teams on their backs," 76ers president and part-owner Pat Croce said. "They're great basketball players, but more than that, they're exciting. They add an element of surprise when they get the ball. You don't know what's going to happen. They bring that anticipation and enthusiasm and they smile at the fans and interact with them. That's what the NBA needs. That's what we want. I want the people going nuts when Carter does something. I just want him doing it less than Allen."
That certainly was the case in Wednesday night's game as Iverson set a 76ers single-game playoff scoring record. Many of Carter's baskets were more spectacular, but Iverson was relentless in going to the basket.
"I didn't want to settle for anything," Iverson said. "I went and took what I wanted."
Even Carter acknowledged Iverson after the game.
"He did the job, that's for sure, but the series is not over," Carter said.
With the NBA's overall popularity declining and new rules designed to make the game more appealing set to take effect next season, an Iverson-Carter matchup is what the league really needed.
"Watching these two kids, I don't think our league is in any trouble," 76ers coach Larry Brown said. "They really are exciting."
"I think you are going to see more great individual matchups as the young kids we have in this league develop," he said. "We are always rushing to fix this and fix that, but maybe there is not always something wrong. The young guys have to be able to grow and make some mistakes. Let them grow up and then see what they can do. In this series, you are seeing two of the best going at each other."
It is looking increasingly likely that Michael Jordan will end a three-year retirement next season and return to the NBA as a player. Carter and Iverson will be right there, eagerly awaiting that matchup.
"You always want to test yourself against the best, and I would welcome the challenge," Iverson said.
Said Carter of Jordan: "He set the standard we are all trying to reach."
Jordan, of course, owns six championship rings and 10 scoring titles, while Carter, 24, has won nothing more than a rookie of the year award and a slam-dunk title. But Carter is one of the league's most popular players among fans, the leading vote-getter for the past two NBA All-Star Games. Iverson, 25, won his second scoring title this season and is favored to win this season's most valuable player award, as well.
"We try to promote the game and the teams and all the players," Granik said. "There are just certain players who capture people's imaginations. You can't deny that.
"We can't go out and create them. It just happens and they're doing it on the court. You can't make superstars, I don't care how good a promotion. It's what they do on the court, and here we have Iverson and Carter. They're doing it most nights on the floor. That's what people see and they love to watch it."
Iverson tough, Carter soft?
Carter and Iverson have had their share of critics since each was designated "the next Michael Jordan" — something that occurred shortly after they entered the league.
One thing that has never been questioned, however, is Iverson's toughness. He plays while hurt and is one of the league's most resilient players despite getting knocked down and run over on a regular basis. At a spindly 6-0, 165 pounds, he just keeps getting up.
"You can question a lot of things about Allen but not his heart," Brown says. "The kid wants to win and will give up his body to do it."
The 6-6, 225-pound Carter on the other hand has been labeled as soft. He isn't as tough as Iverson and when he hits the floor he doesn't bounce up as quickly. He gets criticized for settling for three-point shots instead of driving strong to the basket. In Wednesday night's game, Iverson repeatedly drew fouls and shot nine free throws; Carter never got to the line.
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For one game, fellow guards Larry Hughes and Eric Snow stole the spotlight from Allen Iverson.
Hughes hit a tying 3-pointer with seven-tenths of a second left in regulation and Snow sank a 16-footer at the overtime buzzer, giving the Philadelphia 76ers a 122-121 victory over the Detroit Pistons.
In the final two minutes of the fourth quarter, the Pistons did an effective job of cutting off the high-scoring Iverson and appeared to have closed the game with a 7-0 burst until Hughes forced overtime with just his sixth 3-pointer of the season.
Detroit scored the first five points of overtime and still held a 119-114 lead with 1:42 left after consecutive baskets by Jerome Williams. Iverson and Snow made jumpers and the 76ers converted a turnover by Grant Hill into a breakaway layup by Iverson for a 120-119 lead with 16 seconds to go.
Hill atoned for his giveaway by drawing a foul on a drive and making both free throws for a one-point lead with 8.4 seconds left. The Sixers elected not to call timeout and inbounded to the speedy Iverson, who dribbled up the right side of the court and passed to Aaron McKie. McKie swung a pass to the left side to Snow, who faked a defender and buried the open shot as the buzzer sounded.
"It was a great decision because they didn't get to set up and we didn't have to worry about setting up in the half-court," Iverson said. "It was get it and go and it worked for us."
"It was all about taking advantage of the opportunity," Snow said. "I knew they were gonna double-team Allen; I told him so. So I just got the ball, took a good shot and fortunately it went in."
Philadelphia coach Larry Brown did not think Snow would end up with the game in his hands.
"I didn't know he would be the guy but the kid made three jumpers in overtime and played defense like crazy with five fouls on him.," Brown said. "If you ask me if I thought it was going to end like this, I would have said, `No way.' It's a great end to a long day."
Iverson and the rest of the Sixers threw a hug around Snow, a stark contrast to Saturday's 104-91 loss in Detroit. In that game, Brown benched his starters with 8:15 left in the third quarter and Iverson reacted by asking for a trade.
With 76ers president Pat Croce mediating, Brown and Iverson met today and ironed out their differences.
"I felt like I was a 10-year-old kid being punished on Christmas morning with no toys," Iverson said before the game, backing off his trade talk. "I know I reacted badly. If it happens again I won't run my mouth."
"He felt by not playing him I was disrespecting him," Brown said after today's practice. "I felt bad about it because that was not my intention."
After the game, Brown and Iverson appeared to be on the same page.
"There are gonna be days with him that are gonna be rough and some that are gonna be easy. It's like dealing with family," Brown said. "There are things that were said that needed to be said and probably need to be said again."
"After I left the room this morning, I had a good feeling about me, coach and the team," Brown said. "It was the realest conversation I had with coach. I know he's not gonna do anything to hurt this team. Coach and me are gonna do this together. We're all soldiers. It's as simple as that."
Iverson scored 32 points on 12-of-29 shooting. Hughes scored 20 points off the bench. Snow scored six of his 10 points in the extra session and added a season-high 12 assists. Iverson had seven assists and Snow and Hughes made three steals apiece.
"We've got a good group of guys here," Snow said. "Nothing bothers this team much."
Hill scored 32 points on 13-of-22 shooting for the Pistons, who had seven players in double figures.
"We had it covered. We had all the people we wanted to cover and got the ball out of Iverson's hands," Pistons coach Alvin Gentry said. "(Snow) was the guy we wanted to make the shot and to his credit, he did."
With Hill taking control, the Pistons led throughout most of the first three quarters and took an 86-82 advantage into the fourth period. The Sixers opened the quarter with an 11-4 run to take the lead and the Pistons tied it at 101-101 with 3:16 remaining on a 3-pointer by Lindsey Hunter, who scored 10 points.
Iverson answered with a pair of 3-pointers around a basket by Christian Laettner to give Philadelphia a 107-103 lead with 2:19 to go. But Hunter blanketed Iverson down the stretch and his two free throws gave Detroit a 110-107 lead with 5.1 seconds to play, setting up Hughes' heroics.
"They hit two buzzer-beaters, at regulation and at overtime," Hill said. "We're up by three with five seconds to play and we didn't close it out. We have to go back and regroup."