Iverson Helps 76ers Get Even With 54 Points

Allen Iverson didn’t need any help this time.

Iverson scored 19 of his career playoff-high 54 points in the fourth quarter as the 76ers evened their second-round series at 1-1 with a 97-92 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night at Philadelphia.

Game 3 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals is Friday night at Toronto.

“I always feel the only person who can stop me is myself,” Iverson said. “The only thing I care about is getting a win. If I shoot terrible, and we win, that’s all that matters.”

Iverson, who had 36 points on 11-for-34 shooting in the opener, scored 19 of Philadelphia’s final 20 points.

Vince Carter had 28 points and Antonio Davis added 19 for the Raptors.

With the 76ers leading 89-86, Iverson made a running jumper, got fouled and completed the three-point play, giving the 76ers a 92-86 lead with 1:16 left.

After Charles Oakley made a three-point shot, Iverson made an 18-footer to make it 94-89. Following a miss by the Raptors, Iverson got fouled, cupped his ear, implored the crowd to make more noise and screamed toward the sky. He made both free throws before George Lynch scored the 76ers’ last point on a free throw.

Iverson had 20 points in the second quarter, made one of his first eight shots in the third and finished 21 for 39, including three for five from three-point range.

“He was doing it all, in transition, hitting [jump] shots, we didn’t defend as a team,” Carter said.

“We felt we were able to win this game, and we gave it away.”

San Antonio 104, Dallas 90--The Spurs have just about wrapped up their lesson in Playoffs 101.

Tim Duncan had 18 points and 14 rebounds and helped the Spurs open the second half with a 21-6 run as they beat the Mavericks at Dallas to take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series.

San Antonio led, 78-54, after three quarters as the Mavericks continued their slide with another horrendous shooting performance.

“I thought we stepped it up mentally in the second half,” San Antonio Coach Gregg Popovich said. “This is a really good group. They know what to do in those situations.”

After shooting a franchise playoff-low 34.2% in Game 2, Dallas missed eight of its first nine shots and finished at 34.7%. The Mavericks also tied their franchise playoff low of 11 points in a quarter, the third; they set that record in Game 1.

San Antonio will try finishing off the sweep Saturday.

Dirk Nowitzki led Dallas with 15 points on five-for-15 shooting despite playing only 29 minutes and missing a morning shoot-around because of an upset stomach. He was sent to the locker room at the start of the fourth quarter.

The final minutes did get interesting with another flagrant foul by Juwan Howard. The play--a takedown of Malik Rose while he was airborne--was a virtual repeat of the one that separated Derek Anderson’s shoulder in Game 1.