With the NBA in an indefinite hiatus due to COVID-19, we continue our day-by-day look back at the history of the Philadelphia 76ers. We continue down our path into Sixers history every day as we look to fill the void left by the absence of basketball.
Allen Iverson has had a lot of battles with the Milwaukee Bucks in his career–most notably 2001–but on this specific night, it was all about getting the Sixers into the postseason one year removed from missing it. Philadelphia was at home with a chance to clinch a playoff berth and Iverson stepped up to the plate.
April 18, 2005
The Sixers were up and down all season as Iverson and Chris Webber were still working things out–Webber’s knees were to thank for that–but they had a playoff spot in their sights on this night. So, in came a Bucks team that was underachieving and were relying on Desmond Mason, Dan Gadzuric, and Marcus Fizer to get them through the season.
The perfect opportunity for Iverson to get to work.
The 6-foot guard from Georgetown had another dominant night scoring 39 points on 15-for-27 shooting with 12 assists and seven rebounds to lead Philadelphia to a 122-106 win over the Bucks. The win officially clinched a playoff spot for the Sixers after a very rough 2003-04 season and it validated a thought for “The Answer” after the Game.
He told reporters:
I feel like myself and my teammates, we are a playoff team. We believed that all year. We believed in each other. We stuck with each other in good times and bad times and we never pointed fingers at each other.
At this point, the Sixers are sitting at 42-39 and with one game left, they now have to figure out seeding. They can be one of three seeds right now and that is 6, 7, and 8. They would go on to be the 7 seed and they fell to the defending champion Detroit Pistons in Round 1 in five games. [lawrence-related id=29564,29556,29549]