Iverson Incensed After Sitting in Loss to Pistons

Coach Larry Brown of the Philadelphia 76ers has always had a roller-coaster relationship with superstar point guard Allen Iverson.

Saturday night, it took a definite downhill turn.

Brown benched three starters, including Iverson, the league’s leading scorer, for the final 20 minutes of a 104-91 loss to the Detroit Pistons at Auburn Hills, Mich. A fourth starter, Tyrone Hill, played only one minute in that stretch.

“I’ve never sat down in the second half for nothing before,” an angry Iverson said. “For some reason, my style doesn’t fit this team no more.”

The 76ers trailed by 23 points when Brown pulled all five starters with 8:15 to play in the third quarter. George Lynch played most of the fourth, but Iverson, Eric Snow and Theo Ratliff stayed on the bench, even when the 76ers closed to within seven points.

“So I need to get out of here,” Iverson said. “It’s as simple as that. Something needs to happen. Right now, I don’t like what is going on. When I get back to Philly, I’ll let that be known. However you look at it, I’m going to be the bad guy, but I’ll deal with it.

“I’ve never been done like that ever in my career.”

Brown said that the mass benching wasn’t aimed only at Iverson, who was playing only his fourth game after sitting out because of a fractured thumb.

“It wasn’t an indictment of one guy,” he said. “It’s everybody in the first group. Everybody’s got to execute, everybody’s got to share the ball and everybody’s got to defend. That’s not happening.”

Iverson still led Philadelphia in scoring with 19 points, while reserve Matt Geiger scored 17.

Jerry Stackhouse, who flew in from Chapel Hill, N.C., after taking part in his graduation ceremony at the University of North Carolina earlier in the day, led the Pistons with 26 points. Grant Hill added 20 points and seven assists, and Jerome Williams scored 18 points and matched a career high with 16 rebounds.

Denver 86, San Antonio 84--Nick Van Exel and Bryant Stith each scored a basket in the final 21 seconds and Ron Mercer had 25 points at Denver as the Nuggets beat the Spurs for the first time in nearly three years.

Van Exel, who made one of 10 shots through three quarters and finished with only six points, put the Nuggets ahead, 83-82, with a 15-foot jumper. After a San Antonio timeout, Stith, who finished with 14 points, stole the inbounds pass at midcourt and drove for a layup.

Tim Duncan, who had 33 points and 10 rebounds for San Antonio, made an off-balance shot with 12 seconds to play but missed a shot at the buzzer after Roy Rogers had given Denver a two-point lead with a free throw.

Phoenix 119, Sacramento 103--Jason Kidd had his second triple-double in as many nights and Scott Skiles stayed unbeaten as the Suns’ coach.

Kidd had 27 points, 14 assists, 14 rebounds and four steals at Phoenix, one night after getting 32 points, 10 assists and 12 rebounds in the Suns’ 110-102 victory at Portland.

Cliff Robinson scored a season-high 33 points for the Suns, who are 3-0 since Danny Ainge resigned as coach and Skiles replaced him. Rex Chapman added 15, while Rodney Rogers had 15 points and 13 rebounds.

Kidd’s triple-double was the 28th of his career, tying him with Michael Jordan at sixth on the all-time list. The Suns are 15-0 when he has a triple-double.

Jason Williams scored 22 points for the Kings, who have lost four of five. Sacramento played the second half without Chris Webber, who left because of a strained neck with 1:04 to play in the second quarter.

Charlotte 106, Miami 89--Eddie Jones scored 24 points and Derrick Coleman had 19 at Miami as the Hornets won their eighth in a row.

With the victory, Charlotte moved into first place in the Eastern Conference for the first time in franchise history. The Hornets have won 11 of 12 at home, and improved to 5-6 on the road.

Miami has lost four in a row for the first time since last March 26-April 3. Heat forward Jamal Mashburn was sidelined after suffering a sprained left ankle in the second half.

The loss overshadowed a strong performance by Miami center Alonzo Mourning, who had 18 points and 11 rebounds against his former team and equaled his Heat record with nine blocks.

Minnesota 108, Dallas 104--Kevin Garnett had 27 points and 14 rebounds at Dallas as the Timberwolves ended an eight-game losing streak.

Terrell Brandon added 20 points and Wally Szczerbiak had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who hadn’t won since Nov. 30 against Denver.

Michael Finley had 26 points and Hubert Davis scored 25 for the Mavericks, who have lost six of seven.

Washington 95, New York 83--Mitch Richmond scored 19 points and new starting center Jahidi White had 15 points and 10 rebounds as the Wizards ended the Knicks’ five-game winning streak in a lethargic matinee at New York.

The five-game winning streak had come at the expense of five teams with losing records, prompting Coach Jeff Van Gundy to explain that the Knicks were not exactly surging. It turned out the coach was right, too, as the Knicks played selfishly and never really gave themselves a chance down the stretch.

Seattle 112, Vancouver 89--Gary Payton scored 26 points and Ruben Patterson had 14 points and 11 rebounds as the SuperSonics defeated the Grizzlies for the eighth consecutive time at Seattle.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim led Vancouver with 25 points in the head coaching debut of Lionel Hollins. The Grizzlies have lost 16 of their last 17.

Milwaukee 109, Indiana 95--Glenn Robinson scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds at Milwaukee as the Bucks ended a 10-game losing streak against the Pacers. They hadn’t won against Indiana since March 16, 1997.

Houston 100, Boston 94--Reserve Kelvin Cato made his first 11 shots and finished with 27 points and 12 rebounds at Houston as the Rockets ended a five-game losing streak.

Orlando 83, Chicago 74--John Amaechi scored 13 points and the Magic used its superior bench at Chicago to send the Bulls to their 19th loss in 21 games.

Utah 106, Atlanta 96--Karl Malone scored 33 points, including the go-ahead layup in the closing minutes, keying an 11-0 run by the Jazz at Atlanta.

New Jersey 98, Cleveland 74--Kerry Kittles scored 18 points and sparked the Nets during an 18-2 spurt to start the second half at Cleveland.