Iverson Scores 47 Points to Lift 76ers

Allen Iverson has scored a combined 87 points and 22 assists in the two games since he was snubbed for the United States’ national team.

Coincidence? Iverson says yes.

Iverson had 47 points and 12 assists to lead the 76ers to a 119-113 victory at Philadelphia over the Washington Wizards on Friday night.

It’s the first time Iverson has reached 40 points and 10 assists in consecutive games. He had 40 points and 10 assists against the Rockets on Wednesday night. The victory was the 76ers’ fifth in six games since the All-Star break.

“I promise you it’s not that,” Iverson said, while continuing to maintain he wasn’t bothered by not being invited to play. “If I can play the way I played the last two games from some controversy, I will hope there’s controversy going on all of the time.”

Gilbert Arenas scored 17 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter, including five consecutive to bring Washington within 114-113 with 1:30 remaining. But his driving try for a layup spilled out with the 76ers up by three and 50 seconds to go, and the Wizards didn’t score again.

Chris Webber, who added 30 points and 12 rebounds, sealed the win with a three-point play with 14.5 seconds left.

Chicago 108, New York 101 -- Ben Gordon scored 32 points, including a go-ahead three-pointer with 31 seconds left, and the Bulls rallied to beat the NBA-worst Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

Kirk Hinrich scored 33 points for the Bulls, who trailed by 16 points in the third quarter before coming back to hand the Knicks their sixth consecutive loss and 22nd in 24 games.

Steve Francis, still winless as a Knick, scored 18 points for New York.

Detroit 98, Seattle 96 -- Richard Hamilton made a fall-away baseline shot with less than one second left to lift the Pistons over the SuperSonics at Seattle.

Quiet for the first three quarters, Hamilton finished with 20 points, 10 in the fourth quarter. Rasheed Wallace scored 21 points and 11 rebounds and Chauncey Billups also scored 21 with 11 assists.

The Pistons avoided losing consecutive games for just the second time this season.

Ray Allen led the Sonics with 31 points.

Boston 99, Indiana 98 -- Paul Pierce had 31 points and eight assists and made a three-pointer with 39 seconds left to lead the Celtics at home. Peja Stojakovic had 24 points for the Pacers.

Phoenix 123, Orlando 118 -- Shawn Marion’s two alley-oop baskets in the final minute, both on setups from Steve Nash, rallied the host Suns to their ninth straight victory. Marion finished with 24 points and nine rebounds. Jameer Nelson scored 24 points for the Magic.

Sacramento 102, Atlanta 93 -- Brad Miller scored 24 points to lead five Kings in double figures at Atlanta. The Kings also got 19 points from Kevin Martin and 18 points each from Ron Artest and Mike Bibby and 12 from Shareef Abdur-Rahim.

The Hawks got 23 points from Al Harrington.

Houston 89, Denver 78 -- Tracy McGrady scored 23 points and Yao Ming added 21 as the Rockets finally held onto a lead to beat the Nuggets at Houston. They overcame an eight-point deficit midway through the second quarter and didn’t trail again. The Rockets had squandered double-digit second-half leads in their last two losses to Philadelphia and Phoenix.

Denver got 34 points from Carmelo Anthony.

Dallas 90, Charlotte 76 -- Dirk Nowitzki scored 26 points and Jason Terry had 17 as the host Mavericks rallied from a halftime deficit to extend their club-record home winning streak to 16 games. Gerald Wallace’s 14 points led the Bobcats.