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 Rumble on Broad Street Magic demoralized as Iverson, Sixers roll to 2-1 lead
Posted: Friday May 14, 1999 12:25 AM
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Allen Iverson was still standing for this one. With NBA playoff records for steals and perhaps showboating, there was no way the Orlando Magic could miss him. Iverson had 33 points and 10 steals as Philadelphia beat Orlando 97-85 Thursday night in the 76ers' first home playoff game in eight years. The 76ers more than matched the Magic's physical play, thoroughly outmuscling and demoralizing them to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-5 series. About the only one in the sold-out building who wasn't celebrating was Sixers coach Larry Brown, who wasn't pleased with his players' emotional outbursts, which the Magic could use as motivation when they face elimination Saturday. "You need three games to move on," Brown said. "They just have to win one game here and they have the home court back. I wish it was like the NCAAs, one and done." The Magic, who committed 27 turnovers, have a long way to come back from this beating. They trailed by as many as 23 points and sank into disarray with Penny Hardaway complaining again that coach Chuck Daly isn't getting him enough shots. In fact, Daly took a page from Iverson's book and actually stole one of the quotes that angered the Magic after Philadelphia won Game 1 in Orlando. "They smell blood," Daly said. "They're better than we are right now." Hardaway, the often-disgruntled Orlando star, had 18 points but got only 12 shots -- two in the first half. "I could've gotten more touches, but the plays really weren't designed for me," Hardaway said. "I'm not knocking the coach's decisions, and the turnovers hurt. But I need a lot more than two shots. "I don't think we can win if I don't get more than two shots. If we run some plays and get me more shots, I think we'd be better. I have to put it up 20-25 times." Larry Hughes, a 20-year-old rookie, came off the bench for 13 points. Eric Snow, who passed to Hughes for two slams that finished off the Magic, had 13 points to help ease the crush of Orlando's double-teams that limited Iverson to 13 points in Game 2. Iverson had five assists, five rebounds and only two turnovers. He showed his excitement by alternately waving to the crowd and holding a hand by his ear to get them to cheer louder. "I was so excited that even when I was just standing there I wanted to be moving," said Iverson, whose 10 steals surpassed the previous playoff record of eight last accomplished by Atlanta's Mookie Blaylock. "Even during the timeouts, I just couldn't stand still." After the Sixers promised to respond to hard hits on Iverson in Game 2, 7-foot-1 Matt Geiger did so right away. He actually had to wrestle the ball away from Chuck Daly during an early skirmish in front of the Magic bench. The 68-year-old Daly finally relinquished the ball to the 248-pound Geiger -- and that was not the last loose ball that got away from the Magic. Orlando committed 27 turnovers to the Sixers' 12, and could be eliminated on Saturday in Philadelphia. "He wanted the ball, and I wanted the ball," Daly said. "I thought it was kind of cute. It's probably the only time all night that I smiled." He certainly wasn't smiling when the Sixers took their biggest lead, 64-41 in the third, Iverson lost his cool and motioned for Daly and the Magic to call a timeout. He could have been called for a technical or marked for some hard hits by the Magic, but neither happened. After Hughes threw down one of his high-flying dunks to cap the rally, Iverson lost his cool and motioned repeatedly for Daly and the Magic to call a timeout. He could have been called for a technical or marked for some hard hits by the Magic, but neither happened. "Allen's a very emotional guy," Geiger said. "He's happy to be in the playoffs. He doesn't mean anything personal to anybody." Magic players were more upset with Geiger, who also had an early confrontation with Armstrong. "He's a cheap shot artist," said Armstrong, who pointed in Geiger's face after the Sixers' center had a collision with Isaac Austin in the first quarter. "I think everyone's a cheap shot artist up here. They were even trying to beat up Mickey Mouse before the game." Armstrong was referring to a cartoon depicting Rocky Balboa battering Mickey Mouse on the scoreboard before the opening tip. "We got a little bit pushed around on Tuesday night," said Geiger, who had four points. "Tonight we had the crowd behind us. If anything goes wrong, we've got 20,000 people coming out of the stands and backing us up." Nick Anderson scored 23 for the Magic, who got as close as 11 on Hardaway's 3-pointer with 1:26 left. But Armstrong had nine turnovers and Hardaway committed five. "I turned it over like it was an apple turnover," Armstrong said. It seemed the only one on the Magic side who didn't lose his fire was Daly, who benched Hardaway for a long stretch in the second quarter and went to the desperate move of bringing Dominique Wilkins off the bench with 2:37 left in the period. Wilkins, formerly the "Human Highlight Reel," had his first shot blocked and scored two points in three minutes. Notes: Blaylock most recently had eight steals against Indiana on April 29, 1996. ... The most notable celebrities in the crowd were native Philadelphian Will Smith and his wife, Jada. James Binns, former Pennsylvania State Boxing Commissioner, also had a courtside seat.
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