 |
| |
|
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
||
 |
|||
EVENTS
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|
 |
Getting defensive Sixers shut down Bryant to steal home-court edge from L.A.
Updated: Thursday June 07, 2001 4:15 AM
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Kobe Bryant got isolation on Raja Bell, started to drive and was stripped of the ball. Everywhere Bryant went Wednesday night, the Philadelphia 76ers had somebody there. While Allen Iverson scored 48 points, the Sixers' defense shut down Bryant in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Aaron McKie, Eric Snow and Bell combined to hold Bryant to 15 points and the Sixers beat the heavily favored Los Angeles Lakers 107-101 in overtime for a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Dikembe Mutombo had 16 rebounds and five blocks, but Shaquille O'Neal seemed to have his way against Philadelphia's big man -- until Mutombo got his fifth foul. O'Neal scored 44 points and grabbed 20 rebounds, but scored only three points in overtime. "For some reason I always play good when I get my fifth foul," said Mutombo, the NBA's defensive player of the year. "I get more cautious about what I am doing. I knew that my presence on the floor was really important and I am glad I was able to help my team win this game tonight." O'Neal scored 18 points in the third quarter, helping the Lakers overcome a 15-point deficit. But the Sixers nearly always had an answer for Bryant. With the score tied at 94, Bryant had a chance to give the Lakers a victory in regulation, but Snow stripped him. Philadelphia came back to win in overtime after trailing by five points in the extra session. "I don't think Kobe Bryant had a Kobe kind of day and he will play better Friday," Snow said. McKie has a chip fracture in his right ankle, but the team says he will play in Game 2. In the opener, he continuously frustrated Bryant in the first half, shut down his path to the basket and forced him to settle for a bunch of jumpers. Bryant had just four points at halftime. "We have the best darn ball defenders in the league," Sixers coach Larry Brown said. "You look at Aaron McKie and Eric Snow, even though he's limited, and Raja Bell, they can go at anybody one-on-one." Bryant, who averaged 28.5 points per game in the regular season and 31.6 previously in the playoffs, finished 7-of-22 and had six turnovers. McKie, the NBA's sixth man of the year, sacrificed his offensive game to focus on stopping Bryant. He scored nine points, but played strong defense. Matt Geiger -- an unlikely source -- picked up the offensive slack for McKie, scoring 10 points before fouling out with just under five minutes left. Geiger, who missed 47 games in the regular season and 10 more in the playoffs because of injuries, scored eight of his points on mid-range jumpers in the second quarter. "The way when Shaq guards you and some of the big guys, they really don't seem to get up and try to guard the perimeter," Geiger said. "They just seem to sag underneath the basket and that leaves a lot of opportunities." Bell also came through with a couple of huge baskets, including one where he flung an under-handed shot with his left hand that fell through to cut the deficit to three in overtime. But his biggest contribution was his defense on Bryant. "You just have to make him take tough shots," Bell said. "We have to make all his touches tough ones."
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
