We continue our dive into the history of the Philadelphia 76ers during this tough time in the NBA by taking a look at one of the franchise’s all-time greats.
We began our look back in Sixers history by remembering Thaddeus Young shutting down The Spectrum before honoring the 25th anniversary of when Dana Barros scored 50 points against the Houston Rockets. Sunday’s look back in Sixers history focuses on a ceratin 6-foot guard Georgetown who led the Sixers to a big win.
March 15, 2005
The Sixers entered a home contest with the Los Angeles Lakers needing a win to stay in the Atlantic Division race. They entered the matchup at 30-33 and nipping at the heels of the Boston Celtics for the Atlantic Division lead.
So, they looked to Allen Iverson to lead the way.
Iverson scored 36 points on 10-for-22 shooting and he had nine assists and five rebounds to lead Philadelphia to a 108-91 win. They held Kobe Bryant to 6-for-15 shooting and 20 points as Iverson won the battle on this day.
It was an impressive performance considering the Sixers needed this one to keep everything alive and he also, unknowingly, chipped a bone in his left thumb in the second half. He was fitted for a cast and was listed as day-to-day.
After pulling to within four games of Boston in the division, Iverson told reporters:
It made me feel good. Any win makes me feel
good.
It was just another example of Iverson putting his body on the line and the Sixers on his bony shoulders in order to get a win. He did that a lot over his time in Philadelphia and that is why he has his number 3 hanging from the rafters at the Wells Fargo Center and he is in the Hall of Fame.
The Sixers would go on to make the playoffs in 2005 as a 7 seed as they were not able to catch Boston. The Sixers would end up losing the series 4-1 as they ran into the defending champion Detroit Pistons in Round 1 of the playoffs. Iverson averaged 31.2 points and 10.0 assists in the series. [lawrence-related id=27638,27627,27612]