On a night the Philadelphia 76ers reached 50 wins for the first time in 11 years, they honored the leader of their last 50-win club.
The 76ers became the first Eastern Conference team with 50 wins this season as they retired Charles Barkley's No. 34 and rode Allen Iverson's near triple-double to a 102-89 victory over the woeful Golden State Warriors.
"That's great because I've never been on a team in the NBA that won 50 games," Iverson said. "It's great. It all comes together. Everything that happened with Charles, winning the game, it being our 50th win, it was just a great night."
"It's a tremendous accomplishment," 76ers coach Larry Brown said. "Now, hopefully we'll get a little confidence from this game. It is an accomplishment when you consider four or five years ago we won 21 or 22, then 31."
With just their second win in eight games, Philadelphia improved to 50-22, one game behind San Antonio for the best record in the NBA. The 76ers surpassed last season's win total and reached 50 wins for the first time since the 1989-90 campaign.
That team won the Atlantic Division title and was powered by Barkley, who spent the first eight years of his 16-year career with the Sixers and in 1996 was named one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players.
Before a sellout crowd of 20,958 at the First Union Center, Barkley was honored in a halftime ceremony that included many family members, former coaches and teammates. He was brought to tears by a standing ovation and repeated his desire to enter the Basketball Hall of Fame as a Sixer before a banner bearing his No. 34 was hoisted to the rafters.
"It was especially nice with Charles here," Brown said. "The ceremony was phenomenal, seeing his number go up. He meant a lot to this franchise and this league. I personally admire the hell out of him. I thought it was really nicely done."
The prolonged ceremony seemed to spark the Sixers, who have had their troubles in the third quarter of late but instead turned a five-point halftime lead into a 77-61 advantage.
Iverson scored 17 in the period, just two shy of Golden State's total. He finished with 35 points, a career-high 11 rebounds and nine assists, just missing his first career triple-double.
"I really wanted it because I never did it before. To have a triple double, that's a great all-around game. And on a night like this when you have one of the greatest players to ever play the game, the whole all-around game, and he gets his jersey retired, it was something I wanted to look back on. It was a great night, my mom got to see Charles get his jersey retired, I got a chance to see it. It was something special, something I'll cherish for the rest of my life."
Tyrone Hill had a season-high 21 points and 14 rebounds for the Sixers, who went 16-12 against the powerful Western Conference this season. Philadelphia has won its last six meetings with Golden State.
Hill has a personal memory of playing against Barkley.
"I remember when I was a rookie and we played them at Golden State," he said. "He said to me `Rookie, you keep playing hard like you've been playing and you'll be in the league a long time.' He knows all about work ethic."
Antawn Jamison scored 32 points for the Warriors, who have lost seven in a row on the road and 22 of 24 overall since the All-Star break.
The Sixers never trailed after using a 7-0 spurt to open a 9-2 lead. They led 23-19 after one quarter and by 10 points in the second period before settling for a 47-42 halftime lead.
The ceremony for Barkley lasted 30 minutes, more than twice as long as a normal halftime, which did not bode well for the Sixers. In their last six losses, they had managed just 102 points in the third quarter.
A 3-pointer by Jamison pulled Golden State within 54-52 with 7:36 left before Philadelphia rattled off 14 consecutive points. Iverson had two 3-pointers and Hill and George Lynch had two baskets each during the spurt, which gave the Sixers a 68-52 advantage with 3:28 remaining.
"Iverson just took over," Warriors coach Dave Cowens said. "We went down by 14 and he made two 3-pointers. Of the 14 points, he accounted for six of them. Great players step up when they have to and that's what he did tonight. That's when the game got away."
"We knew that we couldn't let then stay in the game and gain some confidence," Hill said. "So, we stepped it up defensively and we got some easy baskets and got some easy looks."
Philadelphia led 77-61 entering the fourth quarter and opened its largest lead at 92-71 on a basket by Jumaine Jones with 6:25 to go.
「basketball jersey near me」的推薦目錄:
basketball jersey near me 在 pennyccw Youtube 的精選貼文
IT HAD the feel, the aura of a prizefight. Here was Allen Iverson, in his Denver Nuggets uniform, a Band-Aid covering a cut above his left eye, resolutely walking through the door of the postgame interview area, past a cordon of TV cameras, tape recorders and security, the final steps of his path roped off from the assembled reporters.
In this corner . . .
Was the former 76ers star guard.
Open.
Thoughtful.
Informative.
Patient.
This wasn't the Iverson who, before facing the Sixers in Denver in January, said, "I don't care anything about them," and said that despite having been with them for 10 years "they kicked me out as if I had been there 1 day."
This was a gracious, contemplative Iverson. The warrior in him would have to wait until the game started.
"I'm 32 years old now, simple as that," Iverson said before last night's 115-113 Sixers win. "That's the only answer I can give you. I don't make the mistakes, do some of the things I was accustomed to doing anymore. I don't want to be that person that I used to be.
"But I don't regret any of it, because I feel like going through what I went through here, my ups and downs, helped me to be the man I am today . . . I would never want to throw away the experience I had in Philadelphia. I don't regret anything, but I'm just not that same person.
"I still make mistakes off the basketball court. I still turn it over on the basketball court. But I think I'm a better person, a better player at this point in my life."
He dealt with the media for 15 minutes, 6 seconds, then left to complete his preparation for his first game against his former team in his former arena. When he came through the tunnel leading to the court to warm up, he ran directly to center court, kissed the Sixers logo and waved to however many people were already there.
When public-address announcer Matt Cord - who usually low-keys the visitors' lineup during introductions - began a louder, more complete introduction of Iverson, it was virtually impossible to hear his final words. The sellout crowd was already standing, applauding, cheering wildly. The ovation lasted 1 minute, 5 seconds and might have gone longer had Cord not begun introducing Iverson's backcourt mate, Anthony Carter. As a frame of reference, when Charles Barkley returned to the Spectrum for the first time with the Phoenix Suns in 1993, his standing ovation lasted 42 seconds.
Through it all, Iverson remained stoical. He walked a few steps in different directions. Finally, he cupped his hand to his ear, a signature move from the best days of the Iverson Era. The sound level rose.
He said he wanted the entire experience to be positive. And it was. There were Iverson jerseys all over the stands. There were also some Andre Iguodala jerseys. And at least one Thaddeus Young jersey. You knew Iverson was taking it all in. Meanwhile, his mom, Ann, sat courtside in the second row near the Nuggets' bench, signing dozens of autographs.
But earlier, he reflected on the Iverson who came to Philadelphia in 1996 as the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft.
"I came to this organization, I was 21, I thought I was ready," he said. "I wasn't ready. I never had a dime in my life, and then all of a sudden I came into a bunch of millions . . . I was a fish out of water.
"I did a lot of things [with the Sixers] . . . Looking back on it, it's embarrassing, but I can share a lot of experiences, a lot of do's and do nots. I don't regret any of it."