Iverson's 37 Quiets Cavs' Fans

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

February 23, 1999 / 1:01 AM EST / CBS Sportsline

Keep it up, Cleveland fans, and the next time Allen Iverson visits he might drop 60 points on the Cavs.

Iverson, feeding off the boos and taunts of a few loudmouths, once again turned Gund Arena into his personal playground Monday night as the Philadelphia 76ers ended a four-game losing streak with a 106-97 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

"The fans just amp me up when I come here," said Iverson, who scored 24 of his 37 points in the second half. "They make me play harder than I usually play, and I play every game like its my last."

Iverson, who set the arena scoring record two years ago with 50 points, hears negative comments about his checkered past in every NBA city. But he says the hecklers in Cleveland are nastier than anywhere else.

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"I don't even let my mom come here," he said. "They're the toughest here by far. I hear them, 'Jail-bird this, jail-bird that. Thug this, thug that.' I just feed off that."

The Cavaliers, who were without starters Wesley Person and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, had their five-game winning streak stopped.

Iverson scored 16 points in the third quarter as the Sixers opened an eight-point lead entering the final period.

Iverson's basket with 8:47 left in the fourth put the Sixers ahead 90-75, and despite playing its fourth game in five nights, Philadelphia had enough left to put the Cavs away.

Derek Anderson, starting fo Person at shooting guard, scored a season-high 28 for the Cavs, who also had their four-game home winning streak halted.

Shawn Kemp had 23 for Cleveland, while Vitaly Potapenko struggled in place of Ilgauskas, going 0-for-6 from the field and grabbing only two rebounds in 23 minutes.

"They basically beat us in every phase here tonight," Cavs coach Mike Fratello said. "They played harder than we did. They went after every loose ball and got it before we did."

After picking up his third personal foul, Iverson spent the final 6:54 of the first half on the bench. But once he got rolling in the second half, the Cavs could do little to stop him.

Iverson drilled a pair of 3-pointers and scored 12 of Philadelphia's 16 points in a 3:35 stretch of the third period as the Sixers took a 74-66 lead.

"It was fun," he said. "I got the feeling like the night I got 50 here."

Iverson, who came in averaging 27.8 points per game in Cleveland, added nine assists and seven rebounds. Matt Geiger had 18 points and George Lynch 15 for Philadelphia, which went over 100 points for the first time this season.

They were outnumbered badly, but Iverson did hear a few fans cheering for him.

"I look forward to coming here," said Iverson, whose history with Cleveland fans dates back to the 1997 All-Star weekend when he played in the rookie game at Gund. "If I see one fan wearing my jersey that puts a smile on my face. I saw a lot more than one. I guess the fans are 50 precent that like me and 50 percent that hate me. I understand that."

Person bruised a nerve in his elbow in Saturday night's win over New Jersey, and has had weakness in his right hand since. He is expected to make the trip to Detroit but is doubtful for Wednesday's game against the Pistons.

Last week, the Cavs lost the 7-foot-3 Ilgauskas for the season with a broken left foot.

Notes

Philadelphia had lost seven straight in Cleveland and 16 of its last 17.
Sixers forward Tim Thomas sat out with a sprained left ankle.
Philly's Theo Ratliff, the league leader in blocks, had five and has at least one in 65 straight games, the longest active streak in the NBA.
The Cavs and Bulls are the only two teams in the league not to crack 100 points this year.