After Perfect 10, 76ers Get Stung

The Philadelphia 76ers lost their cool and their perfect record.

Elden Campbell scored 22 points and Allen Iverson was held to seven Wednesday night as the Charlotte Hornets defeated the 76ers, 88-73, at Charlotte, N.C., to end the 76ers’ season-opening winning streak at 10 games.

“We knew we weren’t going to go 82-0 the whole season, but it still hurts when it finally happened,” Iverson said. “We had a great run, but it’s over now.”

The Hornets, who have won three consecutive games after losing five in a row, held both the 76ers and Iverson to season-low totals.

Iverson, who entered the game 11th in the NBA with a 23.1-point average, made three of 17 shots. The 76ers made 34% of their shots and were outrebounded, 60-39.

They also got hit with three technical fouls in the first half.

Hornet guard David Wesley, who disrupted Iverson by playing a foot off of him all night, said the Hornets were able to take 76ers out of their game early.

“They are used to being the aggressor, that’s how they win,” Wesley said. “They beat teams by making the hustle plays and we were the ones making the hustle plays. That frustrated them early.”

The 76ers were flat from the beginning and never led.

“They took us out of everything we wanted to do,” 76er Coach Larry Brown said. “We took so many quick, bad shots with no ball movement and we were murdered on the boards.

“And we didn’t match their effort through the first half and that’s a bad combination.”

San Antonio 112, Seattle 85--The SuperSonics gave Gary Payton the go-ahead to play at San Antonio after suspending their point guard earlier in the day, but it hardly mattered as the Spurs romped.

“They might have lost this game before it started,” Spur center David Robinson, who scored 14 points, said of the SuperSonics.

“They had some challenges. It’s tough to come out here, and especially against a good team, when you have some strife, a little bit of strife going on. It’s tough.”

Payton was slapped with a one-game suspension for arguing with Coach Paul Westphal, who later said it was his decision to lift the sanction after Payton apologized.

“We are OK, we are fine,” said Payton, who led the SuperSonics with 18 points on six-of-15 shooting. “I’m the point guard and I play for him. I come to play basketball every day. That’s what they pay me for.”

Westphal also said that he and Payton had cleared the air.

“We just played a horrible game,” Westphal said. “It’s hard to play out emotions in front of the media.”

Reserve Malik Rose led the Spurs with 22 points, making 12 of 14 free throws, and had 10 rebounds.

Utah 116, Denver 78--Donyell Marshall scored a season-high 17 points at Salt Lake City to lead the Jazz in the absence of suspended forward Karl Malone.

Boston 96, Houston 81--Paul Pierce scored 16 points at Boston and the Celtics heeded Coach Rick Pitino’s call for tougher defense.

Atlanta 78, New York 74--Jim Jackson scored 19 points for the Hawks, who built a big lead and then hung on at Atlanta for only their second victory.

Cleveland 86, Miami 67--Matt Harpring scored all 11 of his points during a decisive 15-2 third-quarter run for the Cavaliers at Miami.

Portland 93, Milwaukee 84--Rasheed Wallace had 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists at Milwaukee as the Trail Blazers ended a seven-game trip, their longest in 22 seasons, with a 5-2 record.

Minnesota 101, Vancouver 100--LaPhonso Ellis tipped in the winning basket with three seconds to play and had a season-high 16 points and 12 rebounds at Minneapolis.

Phoenix 97, New Jersey 85--Cliff Robinson scored 17 points and Jason Kidd had 16 assists for the Suns at Phoenix.

Sacramento 100, Chicago 71--Chris Webber had 29 points, 13 rebounds and five assists to lead the Kings at Sacramento.

After sitting out two games because of an ankle sprain, Webber scored 10 of the Kings first 15 points. He added five assists, helping the Kings win for the sixth time in seven games.