SAN ANTONIO VS. LOS ANGELES PHILADELPHIA VS. MILWAUKEE

Sunday, June 3 'Big 3' not enough vs. No. 3 Associated Press PHILADELPHIA -- Ray Allen drove to the basket, got tangled with Eric Snow and fell, grimacing in pain. As Allen left the game with a bruised left knee, the Milwaukee Bucks' chances of advancing to the NBA Finals went with him. Ray Allen injured his knee in the third quarter and left the game for a while. Allen's team-high 26 points weren't nearly enough as the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Bucks 108-91 in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals Sunday night. "It's killing me right now," Allen said of his bruised left knee after limping to the interview room. "I was going to the basket and it was something that Eric Snow does all the time. When I'm driving to the basket, he'll fall and cut you off. "When I came back in the game, he said, 'You never know what they'll let you get away with.' Philadelphia, they play harder, they foul and they get calls for them, calls on their side because they do play hard." Milwaukee's "Big Three" -- Allen, Glenn Robinson and Sam Cassell -- simply couldn't overcome Philadelphia's No. 3, Allen Iverson. The league MVP had 44 points, seven assists and six rebounds. The 76ers' Dikembe Mutombo added 23 points, 19 rebounds and seven blocks. Robinson had 24 points and Cassell added 20, but Milwaukee got just 21 from the rest of the team. The Bucks played without starting forward Scott Williams, who was suspended for accumulating too many flagrant fouls by elbowing Iverson early in Game 6. Darvin Ham, who hadn't scored in the series, started in place of Williams and had two points in nine minutes. "I'm not sure you can blame it on our role players," Bucks coach George Karl said. "Our leadership on offense, in transition wasn't that good." The Sixers took advantage of Williams' absence inside, outrebounding Milwaukee 47-30, including 17-9 at the offensive end. "We missed Scott," center Ervin Johnson said. "We turned the ball over, too many easy baskets for them, and we just couldn't stop them. Iverson got hot. It was a total team effort by them." Allen was hurt with 4:56 left in the third quarter and the Bucks trailing 68-61. When he returned with 10:07 remaining, the Sixers were up by 14 points. He hit a jumper on his first shot back on the floor, but it was too late for Milwaukee. "I was sick when I saw Allen go down, but we beat a great team," Sixers coach Larry Brown said. "If we played 10 games, it'd probably be 5-5." Allen had been terrific Friday night, scoring a career-playoff high 41 points as the Bucks forced a seventh game with a 110-100 victory in Milwaukee. He tied an NBA playoff record with nine 3-pointers and had his own 17-0 run while the Bucks built a 33-point lead before Iverson staged an improbable rally with 26 points in the fourth. But Allen couldn't get it going Sunday. He hit a 3-pointer in the opening minutes and added another one late in the first quarter, but he was 5-of-13 for 15 points in the first half. He finished 8-of-18. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories

ALSO SEE Sixers reach NBA Finals as Iverson KO's Bucks Bell makes stunning impact for 76ers AUDIO/VIDEO  Ray Allen is called for the charge, but the real harm is done to his knee. avi: 704 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN Cable Modem  Ray Allen talks about the status of his knee and the events leading up to his injury. wav: 344 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6