76ers Routed Without Iverson

Without their exciting and volatile star guard, the Philadelphia 76ers didn’t have much of a chance of defeating the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.

Doug Christie scored 22 points and rookie Vince Carter had 20 as the Raptors beat the 76ers, who were without Allen Iverson, 97-82.

The Raptors (18-14), who set a club record with their sixth consecutive victory, moved into seventh place in the Eastern Conference, a half-game ahead of New York.

The 76ers (16-16), who are ninth in the conference, are two games behind the Raptors.

Iverson, who leads the league in scoring, averaging 27.4 points a game, didn’t make the trip to Toronto after he and Coach Larry Brown exchanged words on the bench during Friday’s game against Cleveland. Brown maintains the two agreed he would not make the trip so he could get treatment for a deep thigh bruise.

The Raptors started the third quarter with a 19-7 run that gave them a 24-point lead. The 76ers closed to within 13 in the fourth quarter.

“We missed him a lot,” Matt Geiger said of Iverson. “Two weeks ago we were in fourth or fifth place and now we’re in eighth or ninth. We’ve got to look inside ourselves.”

Miami 90, Washington 79--The Heat survived a fourth-quarter scoring drought at Washington to end a four-game losing streak--the team’s worst streak in three years.

The Heat made only one basket and missed two of four free throws in the first 7 1/2 minutes of the fourth quarter, but the Wizards made only three baskets and missed six of eight free-throw attempts in the final 8:35.

Alonzo Mourning scored 24 points and grabbed 17 rebounds to help the Heat end its worst streak since losing four in a row in April 1996.

Atlanta 85, Charlotte 83--Grant Long’s baseline jumper with 2.6 seconds left at Atlanta enabled the Hawks to extend their winning streak over the Hornets to six games.

After Long’s basket, the Hornets called timeout and set up a play for Eddie Jones. But after taking an in-bounds pass from Chucky Brown, Jones slipped and missed a three-point attempt.

The Hawks won for the ninth time in 11 games despite shooting a season-low 50% from the free-throw line (17 of 34). The Hornets made 20 of 24 free throws.

New Jersey 91, Boston 79--The Nets forced 23 turnovers, leading to 24 points, as they won their third game in a row.

Antoine Walker led the Celtics with 32 points and 11 rebounds. But it wasn’t enough to keep the Celtics from losing their sixth consecutive home game and ninth in the last 11.

Stephon Marbury and Kendall Gill each scored six points as the Nets outscored the Celtics, 14-4, in the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter. Gill’s jump shot with 2:23 left gave the Nets a 91-73 lead, its biggest of the game.

Indiana 108, New York 95--The Pacers withstood a brief scoring outburst by Latrell Sprewell to win at Indianapolis.

Sprewell scored 11 consecutive points to reduce a 16-point deficit to four at the end of the third quarter. But the Pacers scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter and coasted the rest of the way.

Seattle 101, Houston 84--John Crotty, signed as a free agent on March 23, scored 10 of his team’s first 14 points of the fourth quarter to help the SuperSonics, who had blown a 17-point lead, rally and end a three-game losing streak.

Two free throws by Aaron Williams gave the SuperSonics a 53-36 lead, but the visiting Rockets used a 10-1 run to trim the deficit to 54-46 with 8:10 left in the third quarter. Scottie Pippen’s dunk gave the Rockets a 59-58 lead, but the SuperSonics countered with a 7-0 run.

Chicago 88, Vancouver 87--The Bulls, humiliated in their previous two games, found some welcome relief--but not an easy victory--against the Grizzlies.

Mark Bryant scored a season-high 25 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter, as the Bulls reached double figures in victories and sent the Grizzlies to their 14th consecutive road loss.

The Grizzlies had a chance to win, but Shareef Abdur-Rahim’s high lofting shot just before the buzzer--under tight defense from Toni Kukoc--was short.

Cleveland 98, Milwaukee 74--Shawn Kemp recovered from an early injury to score 10 points during a 24-8 run that helped the Cavaliers end the Bucks’ four-game winning streak.

Kemp suffered a laceration above his left eye when he was accidentally hit by the right elbow of the Bucks’ Glenn Robinson only 1:10 into the game.

Kemp received eight stitches on his forehead and returned with 8:27 left in the second quarter and the Cavaliers trailing, 34-30, and scored on a drive to start the run.