Bucks Won’t Give It a Rest

From the moment it was announced Saturday that Philadelphia’s Allen Iverson would miss Game 3 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals against the Milwaukee Bucks, the figuring was that the 76ers had given a concession speech, that they were sacrificing the game so that Iverson could get a little bit healthy for the rest of the best-of-seven series.

The NBA’s MVP had missed 21 of 26 shots Thursday night and had been walking with a bad limp for a week, so this decision was not unexpected.

The concession speech, though, was a little premature.

Yes, the Bucks beat the 76ers, 80-74, to take a 2-1 lead in the series, but it wasn’t until 76er Coach Larry Brown yelled “no fouls,” with 23 seconds left that the concession speech was given.

Brown really got to be a coach Saturday, more than most NBA coaches. He was trying to build sand castles out of air, carve an ice sculpture out of water. Brown could connive and conjure and create and nothing is more fun for the gym rat from New York, but the building materials were missing.

Yet there was Brown, a timeout called with 2:35 left, his 76ers having just caused Milwaukee’s Ray Allen to give up the basketball and the coach ran onto the Bradley Center court at full sprint so that he could pat Aaron McKie on the back, hug Dikembe Mutombo’s waist, high-five Eric Snow.

The 76ers were behind, 77-70, and there was a bit of miracle in that. There would be no full miracle. Not with Iverson sitting in a hotel suite with ice and heat and machines and massages going on to care for his injured hip and buttocks.

But Brown celebrated the bravery of his kids, as he kept calling the 76ers. Brown called the game “fun.”

Milwaukee Coach George Karl praised the Buck defense, which held the 76ers to 35.7% shooting.

This great feat, though, was accomplished against a team that had nine men dressed. This masterful defense was played against a team that once had Raja Bell, Todd MacCulloch, Rodney Buford, Kevin Ollie and Snow on the floor. And with that lineup, Philadelphia was leading in the second quarter.

“I walked into my dressing room after the game,” Brown said, “and I realized I had never been any prouder of a team than I was of this group tonight. They defended as well as you can defend against a great offensive team. We made it a low-post game as best we could. We were in it until the end.”

Brown reached deep into his coaching game bag. He used a full-court press. Once he had two centers--Mutombo and MacCulloch--and three guards on the floor. He ran his offense through the low post and tried to make every possession last as long as possible.

There was a nine-minute period of the fourth quarter in which the 76ers held the Bucks to four points. With 7:25 left in the game, forward Jumaine Jones, a 21-year-old second-year man from Georgia who didn’t play all that much in college, hit a three-point shot to bring Philadelphia within 73-67.

But it was so hard for the 76ers to find scoring.

Snow is working on one leg--he had to cover his injured left ankle with a heating pad every time he sat down--and he shot one for 11 and scored four points. Forward Tyrone Hill, who has two injured fingers taped together, was one for six.

So the Bucks concentrated on surrounding Mutombo (12 points, 10 rebounds) in the paint and running two defenders at McKie (22 points).

“Everybody thinks we have to score a ton of points to win,” Milwaukee’s Glenn Robinson said. “But tonight’s game says a lot about our defense.”

The Bucks led by four, 43-39, at halftime and were lucky that Ervin Johnson scooped in a rebound basket at the buzzer. The game was tied, 43-43, with 10:23 left in the third quarter when Sam Cassell finally had enough of the ragtag 76ers hanging so dangerously close .

After Scott Williams made two free throws for the Bucks, Cassell, who finished with a game-high 24 points, made three consecutive shots over the ground-bound Snow and twice blocked Snow’s shots. Philadelphia called a timeout and Mutombo hit a hook shot but Cassell banked in a 15-footer and a 16-4 Milwaukee run put the Bucks ahead, 59-47.

Even with that run, there would be no rout. The 76ers didn’t give that concession speech until the final 23 seconds when Brown shouted at his team to quit fouling.

It had been Iverson’s decision to sit out. “I left it up to him,” Brown said. “I wanted him to sit but I didn’t think it was my place to make the decision for him. I appreciate the fact he tried to play the first two games being as banged up as he was.”

Karl said he didn’t much care if Iverson did or didn’t play Saturday and he didn’t care if Iverson would or wouldn’t play Monday in Game 4. “Were they just resting him?” Karl said. “Is he really hurt? Are they putting all their eggs in Game 4?”

The eggs are in that Game 4 basket. With or without Iverson.