Iverson Hurting, So Are the 76ers

Aaron McKie made a beautiful fake Thursday, slithered free for a 12-foot baseline shot and made it. The Philadelphia crowd went berserk. Their 76ers were within 10 points of the Milwaukee Bucks, 59-49. Maybe, just maybe . . .

Boom, 13 seconds later Ray Allen made a jump shot. Twenty seconds later he followed with a three-point basket after a 76er turnover.

With 2:10 left in the game, Allen Iverson, wobbling with pain in his hip and his butt, finally made a shot after missing 11 in a row. The triumph was clear on Iverson’s face. The 76ers were within 10 points again, 66-56. Maybe, just maybe . . .

Boom, 14 seconds later Allen made another three-point basket. The First Union Center emptied faster than Dodger Stadium in the seventh inning. Allen gave a little nod to the empty seats as he sat down to savor his 38 points and the Bucks’ 92-78 victory over Philadelphia in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals.

The series is tied at a game apiece and moves to Milwaukee for Game 3 Saturday. Things are not well for the 76ers.

Coach Larry Brown, who brought the crowd to a frenzy when he was presented with a trophy honoring him as coach of the year before the game, solemnly assessed the health of Iverson, the player of the year.

“He’s hurting bad,” Brown said. “I’d like for him to stay home and miss the next game so he can get some rest. But I’ll get overruled on that.”

Maybe not.

Since scoring 52 points against the Toronto Raptors in Game 5 of the conference semifinals, Iverson has shot 29% from the field and made only 31 of 112 shots. Thursday night, he was five of 26 and missed all eight shots from three-point range. His 16 points were as many as he scored in the second quarter of the 76ers’ victory on Tuesday.

“If [the injury] is not getting worse, I’ll keep playing,” Iverson said. “But now, when it’s getting worse, I’ve got to think [about not playing]. This is my dream, the Eastern Conference finals. I’ve hurt a lot this season but I’ve never had to play this season with an injury like this. Last time I had this injury, I sat out five games.”

Iverson has a deeply bruised hip and tailbone that has bothered him for weeks. It got worse in Game 7 Sunday against the Raptors when Iverson took a hard fall.

“He’s standing like an old man,” Allen said of Iverson. “He’s holding his back when he’s standing. He’s holding his tailbone when he walks. There’s a lot of guys throughout this whole league that, with injuries like this, sit down. I give Allen kudos for being able to do it.”

But for how long?

It was Iverson trying to guard Allen and mostly all he did was try.

Allen made 15 of 24 shots and seven of his 11 three-point shots.

“On defense,” Iverson said, “I can’t chase Ray like I want to. I think I’m the best on our team at that, at getting behind a guy and chasing him off screens because of my speed. But tonight I couldn’t do it, couldn’t keep up with him. That’s tough. A lot of shots he hit were wide open shots coming off screens because I couldn’t stay attached to him the way I wanted to.”

With Iverson unable to get any lift on his shot or make any quick cuts to the basket for layups, Milwaukee’s defense looked much better than it did in Game 1.

And Milwaukee’s big three--Allen, Sam Cassell and Glenn Robinson--made the shots they were missing Tuesday.

Allen, Cassell and Robinson scored the Bucks’ first 30 points. When Allen made a three-point shot to give Milwaukee 30, the 76ers had only 15 and that was the working margin the Bucks held on to most of the game.

“In general,” Milwaukee Coach George Karl said, “we shot the ball well and when we shoot the ball is when we play our best. We did a lot of things very well on the defensive end of the court but our key comes when we shoot it and pass it. Tonight we did that.”

Dikembe Mutombo, who had 18 points and 20 rebounds for Philadelphia, said that he hopes Iverson plays Saturday.

“We understand what he is going through with all this pain,” Mutombo said. “But I need him. His presence affects a lot of teams. Even if he won’t play 48 or 40 minutes, by him just getting dressed, it changes the entire game.”

But it didn’t Thursday. Iverson played 44 minutes. The only change was that the 76ers lost.