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No pain, no gain Iverson feeling better heading into playoffs
Posted: Friday April 21, 2000 08:32 PM
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- His right side hurts from an inflamed elbow and his left side hurts from a broken toe, but that's not enough to keep Allen Iverson out of the playoffs. Iverson, whose ailments kept him out of the Philadelphia 76ers' regular-season finale, practiced Thursday and Friday, his first practices on consecutive days in months. It was all part of his effort to iron out kinks before the 76ers' first-round playoff series against the Charlotte Hornets. "I don't think I was rusty, and yesterday was my best practice of the year as far as my rhythm goes," Iverson said Friday. "But practice time doesn't mean anything. I'm anxious to get on the real floor. You don't win the NBA championship on the practice floor." Whether Iverson is 100 percent for the best-of-five series remains to be seen. "I just have to learn to play through the pain, block it out of my mind," he said. Philadelphia coach Larry Brown thinks Iverson's long layoff -- he didn't practice at all for over two weeks -- will help him play through the injuries. "Hopefully he'll be better," Brown said. "If not, we have other guys." Charlotte guard Eddie Jones, who will be responsible for trying to contain Iverson, is confident the 76ers star will be healthy. Iverson had various ailments during the four regular-season meetings between the teams, but still averaged 24.8 points. "If I guy is hurt, he won't be on the court," Jones said. "Everybody is nicked up and has bangs and bruises, but I think they are kind of overexposing his a little too much." The Hornets have accepted that Iverson will score, since his 28.4 average ranked second in the NBA this year. Instead of trying to stop him, they plan to have Jones slow him while their big front line of Anthony Mason, Derrick Coleman and Elden Campbell focuses on disrupting the rest of Philadelphia's offense. "If he is hitting his outside jumper, there's nothing you can do," Charlotte coach Paul Silas said. "But if you can slow him at all, I think you have a chance because you have an opportunity to contend other guys' shots." Philadelphia's task will be trying to match up against the size and strength advantage Charlotte has with the 6-foot-10 Coleman, the 7-foot Campbell and the 6-8 Mason. Philadelphia center Theo Ratliff, who will team with forwards Tyrone Hill and George Lynch to counter Charlotte, anticipated a difficult time countering the three. "They have a strong team and big guys who can play down low or hit the jump shot," Ratliff said. "We'll have our hands full." Charlotte will have to adjust to Toni Kukoc, who helped Philadelphia to a 22-10 record since the Sixers acquired him from Chicago. "He changes our team, especially when he plays on the perimeter," Ratliff said. "When he has the ball, he can make a pass at any point, at the last minute or as soon as he gets it." Kukoc was also the only new element in Philadelphia's only regular-season victory over the Hornets, 102-96 at Charlotte on March 20. The Hornets think they should have won that game. Coleman was ejected with 6:41 left in the second quarter for a flagrant foul against Kukoc. The Hornets admit Coleman was frustrated when he hacked at Kukoc, but think the penalty was excessive. "Derrick was having his way when he got kicked out," Silas said. "If we'd have had him, we would have won."
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