A night after the Philadelphia 76ers had a disheartening loss, Allen Iverson made sure it wouldn’t happen again by playing one of the best games of his stellar career.
Iverson scored a season-high 54 points, including his 15,000th career point, and the Sixers won for the fourth time in five games, earning a 116-97 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night.
“I called his play as many times as I possibly could, and it makes my job a lot easier,” Philadelphia coach Jim O’Brien said.
It was the seventh time in Iverson’s nine-year career that he had scored at least 50 points in a regular-season game, and he has done it three times in the playoffs.
His career-high is 58 points against Houston in an overtime game on Jan. 15, 2002, and the 54 points tied his second-highest scoring total in a regular-season game.
The Bucks tried several different defenders against the five-time All-Star, but none could slow him. He made 17 of 29 shots and 16 of 21 free throws, grabbing eight rebounds before exiting with 2:34 left and the Sixers leading 106-87.
Iverson said he did not mind sitting out the final minutes of a blowout victory instead of attempting to set a career high.
“Honestly, and I can’t be any truer than this, all I wanted was for the Milwaukee Bucks to be down one point once there were all zeroes on the board,” he said.
The Sixers blew a 19-point, fourth-quarter lead in an overtime loss to New York on Friday night. They opened an 18-point, third-quarter lead against Milwaukee, but watched as the Bucks pulled within 64-63 on Michael Redd’s 3-pointer with 4:44 left in the quarter.
Philadelphia, though, went on a 9-0 run to open a 10-point lead and the Bucks came no closer than seven points the rest of the game, and no closer than nine in the fourth quarter.
“We’re starting to get some things, and four out of five (games won) is a good indicator,” O’Brien said.
Milwaukee, decimated by injuries, has gone 3-14 since starting the season 3-1.
“The biggest thing for us was we struggled offensively and we are just really limited as to what we can run because of all the new guys,” Milwaukee coach Terry Porter said.
Redd scored 29 points for the Bucks, who have four players on the injured list and also are playing without the injured Keith Van Horn. Milwaukee missed 58 of 88 shots, shooting a season-low 34 percent.
Andre Iguodala scored 18 points and Corliss Williamson added 15 for Philadelphia.
Iverson is the seventh active player and 93rd in NBA history to score 15,000 points. He scored 33 first-half points, making 12 of 17 shots and six of seven free throws.
His 17-foot jump shot with 6:19 left in the second quarter gave him 15,001 points.
After the game, Iverson credited all of his NBA coaches and teammates for the milestone.
“It made me feel good about the people who have surrounded me and have helped me during my ups and downs in my career,” he said.
Iverson had 12 field goals in the first half to Milwaukee’s nine. The Bucks missed 25 of 34 shots in the first half, with their starters missing 17 of 20.
Game notes
After Iverson exited the game in the closing minutes, he gave his shoes to young boys wearing Sixers jerseys in the stands. … The other six active players with 15,000 points are Reggie Miller, Shaquille O’Neal, Gary Payton, Clifford Robinson, Kevin Willis and Latrell Sprewell. … A night after scoring a season-high 26 points, Kenny Thomas did not dress for the 76ers due to a mid back strain. He was injured in pregame warmups. Williamson made his second start of the season in Thomas’ place. … Bucks forward Desmond Mason was ejected with 2:57 left in the third quarter for arguing calls. … Milwaukee signed guard Eddie House before the game. … Sixers guard John Salmons did not dress due to bronchitis.
Duration : 0:3:53
Iverson is not …
Iverson is not human lol
hes too amazing
i was at this game. …
i was at this game….i live in milwaukee….it was a sad night
is there anyone …
is there anyone that can upload one o allen iverson’s high scoring games?
And 1! hahahaha
And 1! hahahaha
I miss that team of …
I miss that team of ai iggy korver and dalembert lol
This has to be one …
This has to be one of his top 5 best games of his career
maybe when he was …
maybe when he was in philly but not anymore he has to share the ball now
XMAN34512 is right
…
XMAN34512 is right
Iverson is better than kobe
when he was young ( …
when he was young (not old like he is now) they let him elbow and commit a lot of offensive fouls just because he was shaq thats all i was sayin. he dont get away with some of the same exact hed do earlier in his career, the refs favored him a lot which is partially why he was so great, but he is one of the greatest nonetheless. yeah im a pistons fan and i saw the pistons annihilate a team that thought they could cruise their way to a fourth championship and we took advantage of it.
mafukka no …
mafukka no shaqs old, what the wrong with u, pointin out the obvious like u smart or sommin, mafukka when shaq was in his prime won’t no one stoppin him, give me the shaq from 99-03 with derek fisher robert horry, ray allen and shane battier, i guarntee that’s a better team, u don’t even need ray allen just sum1 who can shoot and defend, give shaq 4 guys who can shoot and defend and u get rings, kobe ed up the chemistry, u see what kobe did in 04? kobe aint kobes a choke artis
everyone says kobe …
everyone says kobe cant win without shaq. the same goes for shaq. he is older and not what he used to be, and the refs dont let him elbow anyone anymore, but still no dwyane, no kobe, no championship.
wow pau gasol sucks …
wow pau gasol sucks, occasionally he’ll put up a 20 and 10 game but half the time he only grabs like 5 rebounds and gets pushed around in the paint by anybody. i wouldnt be afraid to post up pau gasol and im 5′11. im not saying i could everytime but i wouldnt be afraid to try haha. malone and gp were old and really not much a factor true. but shaq doesnt need kobe to pass him the ball for him to be good. shaq cant win without help, nobody can.
yea and what did …
yea and what did kobe do with gasol and odom and a veteran defeensive specialst pg fisher? nothin, so stfu, shaq was all finals mvp with kobe, GP was old, Malone was old, and Kobe wasn’t givin shaq the ball that year, give shaq the ball and the lakers woulda won, kobe’s a choke artist, the 06 finals ill give 2 dwade, but when shaq averages 25+ ppg the lakers win
no he aint, kobe …
no he aint, kobe plays D, Kobes a better scorer, all the things u said are excuses, excuseds don’t win championships, but don;t get it twisted i love iverson, he my fav. player but he aint better then kobe, but kobe really aint that great either
shaq aint nothin …
shaq aint nothin without kobe or dwyane wade. and even with kobe, gary payton, and karl malone, they still lost to my pistons. shaq aint that sweet hes just fat.
yea true
yea true
if ai was the …
if ai was the height or jordan kobe and vince, he would be in the conversation of the best ever, period.
“Pound for pound, the best player ever to play the game”
Quoted by Mark Jackson in game 1 of the nuggets lakers series
allen iverson is …
allen iverson is way better than kobe
first of all AI didn’t have a dad who played in the nba who could give him every thing he wanted
2nd of all basketball isn’t his true love football is
3rd he is only 5′10 165
4th he is always hurt but battles through all of his injuries not just one like kobe
5 he is a shooting guard trapted in a pg’s body
6 he is the 3rd all time leading scorer behind wilt and jordan ppg wise
so my point is proven
yea im just sayin u …
yea im just sayin u seem like u one of them die hard kobe fans, and kobe aint nothen without shaq, next year Kobe will be in his prime, have bynum gasol odom fisher vujacic radmonivic, there is no reason y the Lakers shouldn’t win it all next year, but wtahc out for the rockets “IF” they stay healthy
yea exactly, if it …
yea exactly, if it weren’t for the gasol trade the lakers wouldn’t have the no.1 seed in the west and kobe wouldn’t be MVP. Gasol is 22-5 when he was in the lineup, that proves how much a difference he changed the team, if LA didn’t have that, they wouldn’t be the same
yup, CP3 took his …
yup, CP3 took his team and made everyoe on there better, Kobe didn’t have a spectacular, he had a solid year and he was just surrounded by better players, the only weak player was radmovinivic and he didn’t play a lot and he could still shoot, next year Kobe has no excuses, fisher odom bynum and gasol? how could he not win a title next year?
yea true, chris …
yea true, chris paul got robbed…chris paul led the league in apg and spg, kobe only led the league in technicals
i don’t know dat …
i don’t know dat u’ve been talkin dis past few months.. hahaha! oh man.. hahaha
lol still proving …
lol still proving the point lol
4 scoring titles ( …
4 scoring titles (99,01,02,05) get it right
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