The Philadelphia 76ers slowly recovered from the three consecutive loses. Before their match against Houston, The Brotherhood had beaten Indiana, Los Angeles and Dallas, but no team promised a harder battle than the Rockets, relying on their big-three with Hakeem Olajuwon, James Worthy and Rajon Rondo.
Even though the Rockets had some difficult times at the early stages of the month, they recovered themselves and a victory against Philadelphia would put the team above 50%. This was Houston's best chance, as their rivals were missing an important part of their team: after trying to play through his injury, Serge Ibaka finally gave up and would miss two weeks.
From the start of the match, the Rockets were clearly superior. with Rondo controlling the game's pace, Olajuwon and Worthy overcame Philadelphia's defence and gave the Rockets a 7-point advantage at the end of the first quarter.
The Brotherhood was unresponsive: they scored only 12 points in the second quarter, and totally succumbed to Houston's offence, lead by an unstoppable James Worthy. But then something finally happened the 76ers' way: Dell Curry nailed a buzzer-beater 3-pointer, and the Sixers would start the second half 17 points behind, but with crucial momentum.
And then the game transformed into an Allen Iverson show. Starting the half with "only" 20 points, Iverson played out of his mind, locking down Doug Christie and absolutely ashaming Houston's defensive efforts. Slowly, Iverson brought the Sixers back to the game: the fourth quarter would start with Houston leading by 9.
Even though the Sixers' coach tried to give Iverson some rest, he insisted: he played the game's last 20 minutes, and slowly reached to a historic performance: 74 points. The Rockets were absolutely dried out and gave up with 2 minutes remaining. The Sixers took the lead and it only grew.
The final score was 117-107, and Iverson's legendary performance was noticed by everyone. It looks like it doesn't matter what. Allen Iverson will win the Regular Season MVP.
Even though the Rockets had some difficult times at the early stages of the month, they recovered themselves and a victory against Philadelphia would put the team above 50%. This was Houston's best chance, as their rivals were missing an important part of their team: after trying to play through his injury, Serge Ibaka finally gave up and would miss two weeks.
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| Hakeem is the leader of the new Rockets' squad with Worthy, Rondo, Doug Christie and former partner Otis Thorpe |
From the start of the match, the Rockets were clearly superior. with Rondo controlling the game's pace, Olajuwon and Worthy overcame Philadelphia's defence and gave the Rockets a 7-point advantage at the end of the first quarter.
The Brotherhood was unresponsive: they scored only 12 points in the second quarter, and totally succumbed to Houston's offence, lead by an unstoppable James Worthy. But then something finally happened the 76ers' way: Dell Curry nailed a buzzer-beater 3-pointer, and the Sixers would start the second half 17 points behind, but with crucial momentum.
And then the game transformed into an Allen Iverson show. Starting the half with "only" 20 points, Iverson played out of his mind, locking down Doug Christie and absolutely ashaming Houston's defensive efforts. Slowly, Iverson brought the Sixers back to the game: the fourth quarter would start with Houston leading by 9.
Even though the Sixers' coach tried to give Iverson some rest, he insisted: he played the game's last 20 minutes, and slowly reached to a historic performance: 74 points. The Rockets were absolutely dried out and gave up with 2 minutes remaining. The Sixers took the lead and it only grew.
The final score was 117-107, and Iverson's legendary performance was noticed by everyone. It looks like it doesn't matter what. Allen Iverson will win the Regular Season MVP.
Post-Game Stats:
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