Allen Iverson is an unstoppable player once he gets into the zone. However, that doesn’t mean that the 6-foot guard is not spared from struggles when he takes the floor.
A.I. had a lot of that in his career with the Philadelphia 76ers . In 2001, the top pick of the 1996 NBA Draft tended to become overzealous. Such would prove costly for the Sixers, and this was what happened in their Eastern Conference semifinal matchup with the Toronto Raptors that year.
In Game One of that series, Iverson started strong after hitting his first three shots. However, he struggled to sustain that, making just two of his next 14 attempts. At that point, the Georgetown product needed some advice from then-head coach Larry Brown to get his act together.
“Coach Brown told me to slow down,” Iverson said via the New York Times. “My legs were moving faster than my mind was.”
Too late for adjustments
Unfortunately for Iverson and the Sixers, the Raptors had already set the tone. Vince Carter was on a mission at the time. After struggling in their first-round matchup against the New York Knicks, “Vinsanity” was able to get the monkey off his back. No less than Iverson was aware, Vince was back to his old unstoppable self in that game.
“It seemed like he got the monkey off his back by beating New York. Last game he played in, he got into a little rhythm and it carried over into this game,” the 2001 NBA MVP said at the time.
The Sixers and the Raptors battled intensely in the EC semis, but Allen and Philly survived in the end. Philadelphia ended a 16-year drought that season, defeating Toronto 88-87 after Carter’s long jumper failed to hit its mark at the buzzer.
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Philly and A.I. prevailed
Philly faced the Milwaukee Bucks in the EC Finals and once again survived that series in seven games. Advancing to the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, Philly took the series opener in overtime, 107-101. It would be their last win for the 2000-01 season, with the Purple and Gold racking up four-straight wins to bag the 2001 NBA crown.
Despite the outcome, Iverson admitted that he and the team would have given up all their awards that year for the NBA title. Iverson won the Most Valuable Player award that year, while other members of that team received recognition. That included Brown being named Coach of the Year, Dikembe Mutombo being adjudged the Defensive Player of the Year, and Aaron McKie winning the Sixth Man of the Year award.
Regardless of how that NBA Finals run went, Iverson was happy they got that far. He admitted that Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant were too much to handle , although A.I. believed they had the tools to win the 2001 title.
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