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 GAME FLOW
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The Philadelphia 76ers did it with defense
in Game 3, even though their best defender, Eric Snow, was out with a bad ankle.
|  | | Allen Iverson connected on just nine of 27 shots, but he scored a game-high 24 points. |
Aaron McKie shut down Eddie Jones in the second half, Theo
Ratliff blocked shots all night and George Lynch and Toni Kukoc
held Anthony Mason without a field goal.
It was a total team effort on a night when the Sixers needed a
lift from Allen Iverson's sidekicks. They all provided it in
holding the Hornets to one field goal over the first 11½ minutes of
the fourth quarter in an 81-76 victory Friday night.
"I think our defense was tremendous. Everybody was great,"
Philadelphia coach Larry Brown said. "We had no chance to win
without our defense. Eric Snow is our most important player in my mind. What he does on both ends of the court is incredible."
The 76ers took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series, with Game
4 set for Monday night in Philadelphia.
And if they are able to close out the series in that game, they can thank the four or five role players who all stepped up in this game.
"You know you're going to get defense from those guys, we knew
that coming in," Jones said. "It's a matter of whether we're
going to let them push us around. They did it all."
Iverson scored 24 points, McKie and Kukoc added 12 each and
Ratliff had 10 points, 11 rebounds and six blocks.
Jones had 18 for Charlotte, but none when the Hornets really
needed him.
Guarded by McKie, his former college teammate at Temple, Jones
missed his first seven shots of the second half before finally
getting one with 1.5 seconds left. By then it was too late for
Charlotte, which missed 12 of its first 13 shots in the fourth
quarter.
"I was telling people Aaron was going to have a good game.
People overlook him, but he's a great basketball player," Jones
said. "I played four years with him, so I know how good he is. You
think he's not going to do anything and he erupts."
Elden Campbell broke Charlotte's field goal drought on a bank
shot with 16 seconds left that made it 76-74. The Hornets
immediately fouled McKie, who made both free throws.
Tyrone Hill then rebounded a missed 3-pointer by Jones, and he
and Kevin Ollie made three of four free throws the rest of the way
to wrap it up.
The key stretch came six minutes earlier when Iverson, Ratliff
and Kukoc all scored on driving layups as part of a 7-0 run that
put Philadelphia in control 66-59. After Kukoc made his layup over
Campbell, Iverson cupped his hand around his ear and pranced along
the sideline, asking the crowd for more noise.
They responded, especially when McKie leaped high to block
Jones' fast break layup a minute later to preserve a 66-61 lead.
"We shot 31 percent in the first half, and you can't do that.
You're liable to get run out of the building -- and it's our
building," Iverson said. "The crowd was really great like they
usually are. It's really tough getting a basket when a team makes a
run and the crowd is screaming like that."
Jones finally scored his first points of the second half on two
foul shots with 4:52 left, then stole the ball from McKie and made
one of two from the line to make it a two-point game.
Jones then came up with another steal, but David Wesley missed a
jumper, and Kukoc calmly hit a 3-pointer over Derrick Coleman to
make it 69-64.
Snow, who had the best game of anyone on the Sixers in Game 2, was bothered by a chip fracture in his right ankle and missed his first game of the season. McKie started in his place and Ollie, who had played only two minutes in the first two games, played 15 minutes as McKie's backup and had eight points and four assists.
Lynch went 0-for-6 from the field, but the Sixers could live
with it because he helped hold Mason to an 0-for-7 night.
The Sixers missed 14 of their first 17 shots but trailed only
14-10 with 2½ minutes left in the first quarter as Charlotte also
had trouble scoring points. Jones picked up his second foul along
with a technical with 1:44 left in the first, but he didn't pick up
his third until the fourth quarter.
Baron Davis, showing Iverson-like quickness and leaping ability, hit his first five shots as the Hornets went ahead early in the
second quarter before settling for a 40-38 halftime lead.
Charlotte led for all but 36 seconds of the third quarter, and
it was tied 57-57 heading into the fourth. McKie made a driving
layup two minutes into the fourth quarter, giving the Sixers their
first lead since 24-22.
Game notes
The Sixers drew their 11th sellout crowd of the season. ...
The scoreboard wasn't working during the first quarter. Heading
into the second quarter it read: Sixers 36, Celtics 18. ... Goaded
by the hosts of a morning sports talk radio show, Sixers fans sent
21 dozen doughnuts to Coleman's hotel room Friday morning. He was
booed every time he touched the ball. ... Sixers 12th man Ira Bowman didn't hear Brown call his name to check in for the final 10 seconds of the third quarter, and the coach ran to Bowman's seat, grabbed him and sent him in.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Charlotte Clubhouse
Philadelphia Clubhouse
RECAPS
Philadelphia 81
Charlotte 76
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Allen Iverson feels the Sixers never give up.
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