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Thursday, Dec. 23 7:30pm ET
Nets overcome Iverson's 42 points | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- While the fender bender and the New Jersey Nets didn't come close to slowing down Allen Iverson, the Philadelphia star didn't get the help he needed.
Iverson had little support until late. But when the Sixers got it together they rallied from 14 points down late in the third quarter to cut the Nets lead to 96-94 on two free throws by Iverson with 1:14 to go. When Van Horn missed a jumper on the ensuing possession, Philadelphia had a chance to tie the game. Iverson, who was involved in a minor auto accident in Philadelphia on his way to take the team bus to New Jersey, got the ball on the right wing, but his 15 foot, high arcing jumper bounced off the rim. "The two easiest shots he had were the last two he missed to tie the game and to put us within two," Sixers coach Larry Brown said. "He was great." New Jersey brought the ball upcourt, worked it around the perimeter and found Gill on the right wing for an open look, and he hit nothing but net for a 98-94 lead. "It was a designed play," Gill said. "The shot was there. I had someone rushing at me, but I just went ahead and took it. That's my shot. I feel I can hit that shot 60, 70 percent of the time." He did and it killed the Sixers. Iverson also downplayed the auto accident in which he said the car in front of his stopped short. "It was no accident like you all are getting ready to make it out to be," he said. "Believe me, I can see it all already. You're all going to make it seem like some big accident and I crawled out of the car and something like that. It was little. I'll have my car back in a week." The game was the first between the teams since the Nov. 20 contest in which Brown was ejected early and former Nets coach John Calipari took over and guided Philadelphia to a 100-96 victory. No one was ejected in this game in which the Nets never trailed. Kittles, who scored 18 of his season-high total in the first half, helped New Jersey open a 53-43 lead at the half. The margin was still 14 late in the third quarter when Matt Geiger hit two baskets to cut the lead to 10. Philadelphia opened the fourth quarter with a 17-8 to get within 81-82 on a pair of free throws by Keith Hughes. Hughes missed a 3-pointer that would have put Philadelphia ahead on their next possession, and Van Horn then scored five points inside in a 9-4 run to stretch the lead to 91-85 with 3:37 to go. But Philadelphia responded with a 9-5 run and got within two points on Iverson's free throws. It never got closer. Game notes Nets backup point guard Sherman Douglas did not dress for the game because of a sore left ankle. ... Drazen Petrovic, the Nets shooting guard who was killed in an automobile accident in Europe after the 1992-93 season, is currently in third place in an international players of the decade poll by NBA.com. ... Philadelphia went to the free-throw line 43 times, making 37. The Nets were 15-for-19. ... Kittles had four points in his last game in Toronto. | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Philadelphia Clubhouse New Jersey Clubhouse RECAPS Atlanta 108 Cleveland 90
New Jersey 99
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