Division Title Is a Wrap for 76ers

Allen Iverson walked into the news conference, looked straight at the camera, tipped his new hat and said, “There’s more to come, baby!”

For the first time in more than a decade, the Philadelphia 76ers can call themselves division champions.

Dikembe Mutombo had a season-high 27 points and 13 rebounds and Eric Snow had 15 points at Philadelphia as the Sixers, despite playing without Iverson and Aaron McKie, wrapped up the Atlantic Division title Friday night with a 96-88 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Philadelphia hadn’t won a division title since the 1989-90 season.

“The progress we’ve made has been pretty darn good,” 76er Coach Larry Brown said before Iverson interrupted him with his impromptu declaration. “It’s a good feeling. We’ve accomplished a lot.”

Iverson missed his second consecutive game and McKie missed his fifth in a row. Backup center Matt Geiger left the game at halftime with swelling in his left knee.

Despite a makeshift lineup, the 76ers led until Andre Miller made two free throws to give the Cavaliers a 58-57 advantage midway through the third quarter.

Philadelphia then scored eight in a row, ignited by a slam dunk from Mutombo, to take a 65-58 lead. An alley-oop slam by Jumaine Jones capped a 13-2 run and made it 70-60 with 2:23 left in the third.

Sacramento 118, Vancouver 90--Chris Webber again dominated the Grizzlies, scoring 36 points as the Kings established a franchise record for road victories with the victory at Vancouver.

The win was the 21st on the road this season for the Kings, breaking the franchise mark set in 1948-49 by the Rochester Royals.

Webber, who averaged 30.5 points in six previous games against Vancouver, hit 15 of 22 shots from the field to help the Kings (51-24) pull within two games of idle San Antonio for the Western Conference lead.

Toronto 108, Orlando 100--Antonio Davis had a career-high 31 points and season-high 13 rebounds and reserve guards Chris Childs and Dell Curry led a fourth-quarter charge as the Raptors won at Orlando, Fla.

Toronto’s victory, combined with Charlotte’s loss at Miami, gave the Raptors a one-game lead for the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Raptors are still 2 1/2 games behind the Heat for fourth place and home-court advantage in the first round.

Orlando, which was led by Tracy McGrady’s 20 points and nine assists, is in seventh place, one game behind Charlotte.

Minnesota 101, Phoenix 88--Kevin Garnett scored 25 points at Minneapolis to lead the Timberwolves to their third consecutive victory.

The Suns lost for only the second time in 10 games and were denied a chance to clinch their 13th consecutive playoff bid.

The Timberwolves pulled within one game of the Suns in the race for seventh place in the Western Conference. Both teams have seven games remaining.

Miami 81, Charlotte 76--Alonzo Mourning made an acrobatic go-ahead shot with 1:33 remaining, and the Heat rallied to defeat the slumping Hornets at Miami.

For the third time in a week, the Hornets blew a big lead and lost. And Jamal Mashburn again failed to come through in the fourth quarter, as often happened when he played for the Heat.

Mashburn scored 20 points in the first three periods but missed two free throws with 1:21 left and his team trailing by one point. He also missed a desperation jumper in the final seconds and finished eight-for-25 from the field.

Portland 122, Golden State 91--Arvydas Sabonis scored a season-high 32 points and Damon Stoudamire had Portland’s first triple-double in more than six years as the Trail Blazers won at Oakland.

Facing a Golden State team in freefall from a season-long injury problem, Portland easily ended its losing streak at three games without Shawn Kemp, who volunteered for drug treatment and will miss the rest of the season.

Indiana 100, Chicago 93--Reggie Miller scored 28 points and Jalen Rose had 17 as the Pacers rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat the Bulls at Indianapolis.