Costly Mistake by Horry

Forward Robert Horry followed a great play in overtime with a lousy one, and it wound up helping turn the tide for the 76ers.

The Lakers were leading, 99-94, with 2:44 remaining when Horry stole a bad pass by Eric Snow and gave his team a chance to increase its lead. Four seconds later, with Kobe Bryant bringing the ball upcourt, Horry plowed over Dikembe Mutombo and was whistled for an offensive foul.

That sparked a 9-0 rally by Philadelphia over the next 1:52, putting the Lakers in a hole they never escaped.

Moments before Horry’s foul, he had tangled with Mutumbo for a rebound at Philadelphia’s end of the court.

Mutombo won that battle--possibly committing a foul in the process--and TV cameras caught an angry Horry balling his fists in frustration.

After the game, Horry had little to say about the exchange.

“I don’t even want to comment on that because I love my money,” he said.

“I’ll say something I don’t need to say.”

Mutombo, too, was careful not to escalate things.

“I can’t control the fact that it happened,” he said. “All I know is we won. I’m not going to try to get into trash talking with nobody.”

But Snow acknowledged Horry’s foul was a turning point in the game.

“That was big,” he said. “They had a chance to increase their lead or maybe get a foul on Dikembe [who had five at the time].

“But they gave us another opportunity to score. That’s safe to say it was one of the biggest plays in overtime.”