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Saturday, Jan. 22 8:30pm ET
Miller scoreless in final 6 minutes | |||||
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 GAME FLOW
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Allen Iverson must have felt like he was in the 6-feet-and-under league when he dribbled down the court with the game on the line and saw the 5-foot-11 Travis Best guarding him. Best, the only player on either team shorter than Iverson, was at his mercy. So were the Indiana Pacers. Iverson scored 37 points Saturday night, including a decisive three-point play with 64 seconds left as the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Pacers 103-97. "He's short," said Iverson, listed generously at 6-feet. "I don't get a chance to post people, because I'm short. Travis and Muggsy Bogues and the real short guards, I try to turn my back to." While his teammates recognized the mismatch and cleared out, Iverson spun in the lane for a jumper and was fouled. He hit the free throw for a 99-95 lead with 1:04 left. Dale Davis missed a jumper, and the Sixers cleared out for Iverson again. But Iverson, the NBA's leading scorer, was only a decoy this time. He passed to Eric Snow, who cut straight through the middle for a short jumper that made it 101-95 with 26 seconds left. "They doubled me, and Eric broke their backs like he's supposed to," said Iverson, who scored 30 or more for the 13th time in 15 games. "It's tough to play him," Pacers coach Larry Bird said. "He's so quick and athletic, and when he gets it going he's extra tough. I thought we did as well as we could with him, and that's all you can ask." In a rematch of Indiana's four-game playoff sweep in last year's second round, the Sixers held Reggie Miller scoreless for the final six minutes and finished with a 7-2 run for their fifth victory in six games. The Pacers missed four 3-point shots on their final gasp before Philadelphia's Tyrone Hill finally got the rebound and sealed the victory with two free throws. The Sixers, the fifth-worst foul-shooting team in the league, made 30 of 32 in a game filled with playoff intensity. "They're a good team, and they're playing with a lot of confidence," Rik Smits said. "They're playing like they want to go back to the playoffs." Miller had all but four of his 28 points in the first and fourth quarters and got a technical for throwing a towel after being called for a foul early in the fourth when the Sixers opened a 10-point lead. Central-leading Indiana lost its second straight and third in four games -- including a 10-point loss to Washington on Friday night. "Don't wait on me," Miller barked after the game. "I don't have anything to say." Perkins had 16 points, Rik Smits 14 and Jalen Rose 13 for Indiana. Davis had 10 points and 15 rebounds, while Hill had 16 points and 10 rebounds for Philadelphia. Iverson set the tone for a 12-0 run that broke open a tight game in the last five minutes of the third. Rose hit a jumper to give the Pacers a 64-61 lead with 5:12 left, but it was Indiana's only basket for the next four minutes. Iverson flipped a sensational behind-the-back pass to Snow for a layup to start the run. He took a pass from Snow, dribbled across the lane and hit a fallaway jumper to give the Sixers a 65-64 lead with 4:11 left in the third. Matt Geiger scored two straight baskets, and the Sixers had a basket taken away on an incorrect interference call on Iverson. Hill glided in for a layup, and Iverson soared for a possible tap but never touched the ball. The basket was waved off. Aaron McKie hit a jumper, and Hill got a layup that counted to cap the run and make it 73-64 with 55 seconds left. Rose hit a 3-pointer for Indiana's first points since his last basket, and Philadelphia led 75-69 after three. The Sixers extended the lead to 81-71 early in the fourth with a 6-0 run during which Miller got his technical. Game notesSixers coach Larry Brown, who lashed out at the media Friday for reporting the proposed Jamal Mashburn-for-Larry Hughes trade, canceled his usual pregame meeting with reporters. ... Hughes heard warm cheers after hearing nothing but trade rumors for several days. He scored eight points in 17 minutes, including a two-handed putback slam in the fourth. ... Actor and rapper Will Smith, a Philadelphia native, filmed a video for his song "Freakin' It," during halftime. ... Bird, who came to Iverson's defense last season when the Sixers star had a spat with Charles Barkley, had this to say before the game: "I've always felt sorry for Allen, because I've always felt like he's gotten a bad rap. All you can ask of a player is to play hard every night, and Allen does that." | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Indiana Clubhouse Philadelphia Clubhouse RECAPS New Jersey 98 Dallas 95
Philadelphia 103
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