76ers 89 Knicks 82
PHILADELPHIA – After he had gunned them down again, Allen Iverson was asked if the Knicks represented the Sixers’ most difficult challenge in coming out of the East.
“Why are they difficult?,” Iverson said after the Sixers’ down-to-the-wire 89-82 matinee victory yesterday at First Union Center. “What’s the series? 3-1. Doesn’t sound too difficult.”
Latrell Sprewell, after his game-long war against Iverson, could not disagree more with The Answer’s answer. Despite the loss, the Knicks believe they will make life difficult for the top-seeded Sixers (55-25) in the playoffs.
“We wanted to come in here and make a statement,” said Sprewell, who scored a game-high 26 points. “I thought we played well, got a couple of bad breaks down the stretch. We had our shots at it. We definitely let them know that if we’re fortunate enough to face them again, it’s going to be a battle.”
You can’t blame Iverson (27 points) for being cocky nor Spree for sticking up for the Knicks. After all, the Knicks were without starting center Marcus Camby, whose absence contributed to them getting slaughtered on the boards (49-33) and allowing the Sixers to penetrate the paint for too many layups.
But the injury-wracked Iverson made it look too easy in the final three minutes to save yesterday’s victory after getting hammered much of the game. Iverson wound up on the floor three times and once had to leave for the locker room after getting hit in the groin when he charged into Othella Harrington.
Sprewell went off on one of his raging runs, scoring eight straight points to bring the Knicks within two points, 79-77, with 3:17 left before Iverson embarked on his rescue mission.
When play resumed following a Sixers’ timeout, the Iverson-Spree duel became one-sided with the MVP candidate knifing the Knicks in the heart. Iverson made two critical shots while the Knicks fizzled.
First, there was Iverson’s ultra-tough skyball 19-footer from the top of the key with Spree all over him with 2:58 remaining. Then the killer came in the final minute on his running hook in the lane after hopping past Spree like an Easter bunny to put Philly up five and allowing the Sixers to achieve their third victory if four games vs. the Knicks this season.
“We played alright defense on him, though obviously you’d like to get the last two stops,” Jeff Van Gundy said. “But he made a jump shot over our best perimeter defender (Spree) and drove by Spree and made a nice shot in the lane.”
The Knicks and Sixers probably will meet in the second round if the Knicks stay as the fourth seed. Yesterday, the Knicks blew a big opportunity to take the No. 3 spot from the Heat who got bombed by the Magic.
With two games to play, the Knicks trail Miami by one game for No. 3 but own the tiebreaker. If the Knicks get the No. 3 seed, they won’t have to see Iverson’s tattoos until the conference finals.
The Knicks still feel they can take out the Sixers in a long playoff series. “We feel we can beat this team,” said Glen Rice, whose club squandered an early 16-6 bulge. “We go out there and make less turnovers and hit some shots, we feel we can beat them.”
Without Camby, Dikembe Mutombo made his presence felt immediately in this series, logging 16 rebounds, seven of the offensive glass. But Knick turnovers, although not plentiful (11), proved deadly, almost always resulting in fastbreak baskets the other way. The Knicks committed just six turnovers in the first half but all were converted into fastbreak baskets.
“We played hard enough, we didn’t play well enough,” Van Gundy said. “We didn’t handle their ball pressure. You give too many layups and get outrebounded by 16, it’s hard to win. And when it got tight, Iverson made shots.”
Over the final three minutes, Spree cooled, missing his final three shots. Iverson’s perimeter hoist over Spree made it 81-77 and then Aaron McKie drove baseline for a runner to put the Sixers ahead 83-77 with 2:03 left. If it wasn’t McKie getting to the bucket without remorse, it was Eric Snow or George Lynch or reserve Kevin Ollie.
Allan Houston, struggling in his first game back from a week’s absence (5 of 16), converted a 3-point play, hitting on a liner he even branded as lucky while getting fouled by Snow with 1:41 left.
That brought the Knicks within 83-80, and with 1:03 remaining, Spree had a chance to tie. But his trey from the right side glanced off the rim. Spree turned to the official, begging for a call as he claimed to have been hacked on the elbow by Snow.
Iverson all but iced it when he dribbled past Spree, pulled up in the lane and floated a one-hander over a helping Kurt Thomas for a 85-80 lead with 49 seconds left.
“I had my moments he had his, but it was a great contest though,” Sprewell said. ” That’s why he’s going to be the MVP. He steps up and makes shots like those.”
The Knicks were still breathing until Rice (nine points) missed his trademark shot – an open straightaway trey with 32 seconds left that bounced off the front rim. “I’ll take that shot any day,” Rice said. “Nine times out of 10 I’ll get it to fall.”
The Knicks feel their future chances vs. Philly aren’t bad either.
