Sixers Rally Past Pacers

April 17, 1999 / 2:46 AM EDT / CBS/AP

The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Indiana Pacers twice in a row about as often as Allen Iverson loses a chase for a loose ball.

Almost never.

Iverson broke open a tight, playoff-like game with a hardfought steal in the closing minutes and scored 26 points as the Philadelphia Sixers beat the Indiana Pacers 93-83 Friday night.

"If we play any good team, they don't have an easy win," said Iverson, the NBA scoring leader who reached his average after two straight bad games. "There is no easy win coming in here."

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It was a statement game for the Sixers, a team that's been out of the playoff race at this juncture of every other season this decade but 1990-91. They beat Indiana for the second straight time after 10 losses in a row, moving into the seventh playoff spot in the East with Friday's loss by New York.

The Pacers missed an opportunity to gain on Orlando and Miami, which both lost Friday, in the race for homecourt advantage.

"Deep inside, we kept thinking we're playing against a top team on national TV," said Philadelphia's Matt Geiger, who had his second straight strong game with 22 points. "We wanted to try to make a stand that we can beat anybody."

Indiana's downfall started with "The Great Chase for the Bouncing Ball," courtesy of the super-quick Iverson.

After hitting a driving jumper that gave the Sixers an 83-80 lead with 3:09 left, Iverson poked the ball away from Mark Jackson near the top of the key.

Iverson chased Jackson and the ball all the way into the backcourt along the sideline, running low to the ground and circling Jackson as he fumbled for the ball. Iverson came up with it and found Aaron McKie in the corner for a 3-pointer that made it 86-80 lead with 2:43 left.

"I think Aaron was on him, and I guess he didn't really know that I was still coing behind him," Iverson said. "And I just kept running down the play. Then I trapped the ball a couple of times and still couldn't get it."

Jackson tried to pass to Rik Smits, but McKie tipped it.

"Me and Rik Smits, we both got there at the same time," Iverson said. "I guess I hit it harder than he did, and I looked and the ball was right there."

After McKie's 3-pointer, Smits missed a jumper at the shot clock buzzer. Eric Snow found Geiger for an alley-oop layup with Iverson curling the other way as a decoy making it 89-80 with 1:50 left.

Iverson raised his arms and beckoned the sellout crowd to roar which it did, as loudly as they have for this team in years while Pacers coach Larry Bird stood expressionless on the sideline.

"Last year, we were very good at the end of games closing people out," Bird said. "This year, we're having problems doing it."

Geiger had 22 points and Snow added 10 assists for the Sixers. Jalen Rose led the Pacers with a career-high 28 points, all but eight in the first half. Reggie Miller had 21 points, but shot only 8-for-23 and scored six points in the second half while getting into foul trouble.

"They are much more aggressive at both ends of the court, especially late in the game," said Miller, trying to explain the Sixers' sudden mastery of Indiana.

Trailing 47-44, the Sixers started the second half with a 9-0 run that Iverson started with a 3-pointer and an alley-oop pass to Geiger. As the Pacers missed their first seven shots, the sellout crowd started chanting, "Reggie! Reggie!"

Chris Mullin ended the drought with a 3-pointer, and Miller spotted up all alone and made a 3 that cut the Sixers' lead to 57-55 with 6:02 left in the third. Miller, as great a trash-talker as shooter, taunted the crowd as he backpedaled down the court holding his hands by his ears in the hardwood parlance for, "I can't hear you."

Miller's fourth foul came on a reach against Iverson about 25 feet from the basket with 38 seconds left in the third.

"We can gripe about the fouls, but we were still in the game despite that," Miller said.

Notes: Rose's 20 points in the first half were the most in any half against the Sixers this season. He was 7-for-7 until missing a driving, turnaround, right-handed bank shot with about four minutes left in the second quarter. ... Sixers publicists were beside themselves when they saw Iverson's mother, Ann, holding a sign that read, "Hey Ref, making the $&!?! call!" during the nationally televised game. ... The Sixers signed guard Doug Overton for the rest of the season.