Iverson Can’t Do It Alone and 76ers Lose to Raptors

Allen Iverson finished with the bigger total, but Vince Carter walked away with the victory.

Carter scored 39 points and the Toronto Raptors overcame Iverson’s 51 points and two big deficits to rally past the Philadelphia 76ers, 110-106, in overtime Sunday at Philadelphia.

“That was fun, the kind of game you want to be in,” Carter said. “Of course, it’s always better if you win.”

Iverson returned to the lineup after sitting out Friday night’s win against New Jersey because of a bruised left knee. He made 20 of 40 shots and scored all 10 of the 76ers’ points in overtime.

All of Iverson’s scoring upset 76er Coach Larry Brown.

“I thought it was a bad sign because everyone was deferring to him,” Brown said. “Too many times we kept throwing it to Allen and running away from him.”

Raptor Coach Lenny Wilkins was happy with his team’s defense, despite Iverson’s barrage.

“He [Iverson] is not going to beat us on his own,” Wilkins said. “We want to shut down the other guys.”

Toronto won its third in a row and stopped Philadelphia’s five-game winning streak. The Raptors used a 21-0 run to rally from a 20-point halftime deficit. Trailing, 93-83, in the fourth quarter, they scored 13 consecutive points.

Keon Clark, acquired in last week’s trade with Denver, came off the bench to make 10 of 14 shots and score 23 points for Toronto.

Indiana 87, New York 74--Reggie Miller says the New York-Indiana rivalry is dead. Given the lack of intensity by the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, he may be right.

Holding their fourth consecutive opponent below 80 points, the Pacers took control early in the first meeting of the season between last year’s Eastern Conference finalists.

“When they got rid of Patrick [Ewing], I considered it over because he was the cornerstone of this franchise and he was somewhat synonymous with the rivalry. So personally, to me, there is no rivalry because of that,” he said.

Utah 109, Phoenix 98--The Suns opened a six-game trip without Jason Kidd, their all-star point guard who is mending his family life after being accused last week of hitting his wife at their suburban Phoenix home.

The Jazz were led by Karl Malone, who scored 30 points. Rodney Rogers came off the bench to score a season-high 27 points for the Suns.

Golden State 94, Boston 91--Antawn Jamison made two free throws with 10.4 seconds left and Vonteego Cummings added two more with three seconds left at Oakland as the Warriors won consecutive games for only the second time this season and moved out of last place in the Pacific Division.

Minnesota 96, Vancouver 94--LaPhonso Ellis made a three-point basket with 45 seconds left to give the Timberwolves the victory at Vancouver, Canada. Ellis took an inbounds pass with a second left on the 24-second clock and sank the desperation shot.

Milwaukee 102, Detroit 98--Glenn Robinson scored 26 points at Auburn Hills, Mich., to lead the Bucks to their seventh consecutive victory.

The Pistons played without Jerry Stackhouse, the league’s leading scorer, who had flu.

Washington 94, Atlanta 90--Richard Hamilton scored 29 points at Washington to help the Wizards end a nine-game losing streak.

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The Nifty Fifty

Players who have scored 50 or more points this season, with result of game (player’s team is in bold):

54--Allen Iverson, Philadelphia 107, at Cleveland 103, Jan. 6

53--Tony Delk, at Sacramento 121, Phoenix 117 (OT), Jan. 2

51--Kobe Bryant, at Golden State 125, Lakers 122 (OT), Dec. 6

51--Chris Webber, Indiana 93, at Sacramento 91 (OT), Jan. 5

51--Antawn Jamison, at Golden State 125, Lakers 122 (OT), Dec. 6

51--Antawn Jamison, at Seattle 118, Golden State 102, Dec. 3

51--Allen Iverson, Toronto 110, at Philadelphia 106 (OT), Jan. 21