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Fan favorite Iverson will come out a winner either way
Updated: Thursday August 23, 2001 5:41 PM
PHILADELPHIA -- Even if he doesn't get to hold the Larry O'Brien Trophy over his head this year, it appears Sixers guard Allen Iverson is going to emerge from the 2001 NBA Finals a big winner. Iverson has used the Finals stage to improve his image like few other players before him. Not only has he been Philadelphia's leading scorer, he also has shown true leadership with his determined play and willingness to defend and rebound. Iverson even had a career playoff-high 12 boards to go with his 35 points and four assists in Game 3. After hearing for so long about his rap sheet and rap records, much of America is finally seeing Iverson as more than just a gangsta thug. Though he still favors shades and 'do rags over a suit and tie, he often shows up for news conferences after games with his toddler kids crawling all over him. He also laughs and jokes more frequently with a press corps he once seemed to distrust.
"I'm still the same person," said Iverson, who turned 26 last Thursday. "I'm just older, more wiser. I still make mistakes. I just try to learn from them and get better in who I am as a person and player. "I make mistakes just like everybody else. I laugh like everybody else. I cry like everybody else. I've got feelings like everybody else. I'm just a little stronger than a lot of other people mentally." That, and he has a much better crossover dribble.
Wailing or waling? Depends on your point of viewLakers center Shaquille O'Neal keeps a silver Wailing Wall replica paperweight in his locker at the Staples Center, a gift from a young fan who visited Jerusalem. To the Sixers, however, the only wailing Shaq has been doing of late is over the referees. To a man, they were incredulous that Shaq would complain about Sixers center Dikembe Mutombo flopping in Game 3. "When you get stitches in the mouth, it doesn't just come from running up and down the floor," Sixers guard Aaron McKie said, referring to a bloody mouth sustained by Mutombo when O'Neal clipped him with an elbow in Game 3. "So somebody had to hit him in the mouth." O'Neal believes Mutombo is leaning into him on defense, then flopping when he tries to spin into the lane. At times during the Finals he has had a valid point; other times, however, Shaq has lowered his shoulder and dislodged his defender without being called for it. The only certainty is that Mutombo's reputation as a four-time Defensive Player of Year gets him some added respect from referees, one reason Philadelphia acquired him in that midseason trade. While Shaq continued his sniping at Mutombo in Monday's news conference, challenging his counterpart to play him "like checkers," Mutombo and the rest of the Sixers seemed to want to drop the subject. "Nobody said the championship was a gift. It's a war," Mutombo said. Added Iverson: "I don't care nothing about that, man. That's talk. [We're] trying to win a series, not get in any verbal war."
Jackson not sweet on pre-game snacksDon't call Lakers head coach Phil Jackson "The Candy Man." According to L.A. forward Horace Grant, Jackson loses his Zen calm when he spots players eating candy in the locker room. "He goes crazy," says Grant, who likes to down one or two chocolate bars before every game. "He feels it takes you up to a certain level [of energy] and then you lose it." Despite his coach's fears, Grant says he's not about to change his routine after 13 years in the league. While health-conscious Lakers teammates Derek Fisher and Mark Madsen eat Power Bars, Grant says he's going to stick with Kit Kats, Baby Ruths and Snickers. "A guy my age needs all the energy I can get," he says with a laugh.
Marty Burns covers pro basketball for CNNSI.com. Click here to send Marty a question or comment.
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