Iverson’s 31 Points Lead 76ers Past Knicks

Allen Iverson responded to this road crowd with his jumper, not his mouth.

Iverson, getting heat for his run-in with fans in Indiana earlier this week, scored 23 of his 31 points in the second half to help the Philadelphia 76ers return to their winning ways on the road with an 87-80 victory over the Knicks on Thursday night at New York.

Iverson received a mixed reaction from the New York crowd when he was introduced Thursday, and even joked with a couple of fans as Theo Ratliff shot free throws in the final seconds.

“I love playing here,” he said. “This is one of the greatest places in the world to play.”

Iverson made only 11 of 30 field goals against the NBA’s stingiest defense, but he made two long jumpers in the final three minutes to keep Philadelphia in the lead.

Allan Houston scored 27 points and Latrell Sprewell had 21 for the Knicks, who have lost four of five. Sprewell, who played tough defense on Iverson much of the night, missed two key shots in the last minute.

Portland 100, Phoenix 92--Steve Smith scored 17 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter as the Trail Blazers held on at Portland.

Damon Stoudamire scored 17 points and had 10 assists as the Trail Blazers overcame the ejection of forward Rasheed Wallace and a season-high 42 point performance by the Suns’ Clifford Robinson.

Wallace scored 19 points, but was ejected with 8:56 remaining after receiving his league-leading 27th technical of the season.

He charged after official Gary Benson, who called the second technical, and threw a towel that hit Benson in the head. It was the third time this year that Wallace was ejected.

Seattle 97, Chicago 91--Vin Baker scored 22 points and Brent Barry had 11 assists as the short-handed SuperSonics outlasted the Bulls at Seattle.

Gary Payton left midway through the second quarter after aggravating an abdominal strain that kept him on the bench the rest of the game.

Dallas 95, Miami 91--Michael Finley was in All-Star form, scoring 26 points and making spectacular shots in key overtime situations at Dallas as the Mavericks ended nearly a decade of domination by the Heat.

The Mavericks had lost 16 in a row to the Heat since a December 1991 overtime victory. Miami had the longest win streak of one team over another in any of the four major pro sports.

Utah 87, Charlotte 76--Karl Malone had 16 points and seven rebounds at Salt Lake City, passing the 13,000-rebound mark.

Shortly after tipoff, Malone’s defensive rebound put him into an exclusive group whose members have also scored at least 26,000 points.

The others are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Moses Malone, Elvin Hayes and Hakeem Olajuwon.

Minnesota 90, Cleveland 81--Terrell Brandon matched his season-high with 27 points at Cleveland and set the tone for Minnesota’s defense as the Timberwolves extended their club-record win streak to nine games.

Brandon scored 18 in the second half and tied a season-high with six steals.