While some of the players in the 76ers' 119-108 victory over the Sacramento Kings yesterday at the First Union Center were playing around or above the rim, Iverson was catapulting into the stratosphere of the sport, going places only he is capable of going.

This time, he did it as well as he ever has. The quickest man with the ball in the NBA matched his career high of 50 points and established career highs of 20 field goals and 40 attempts.

The poor, weary Kings were on the eighth leg of an Eastern trip and more than ready to be lit up, and Iverson never hesitated to strike the match.

"I love guys to take shots, I'm begging guys to take shots," Sixers coach Larry Brown said. "We have to accept that this is the way our team is built right now. It would be easier, and I don't think it would limit Allen's shots, if we had another guy who could get 15 to 18 shots. We don't have that right now."

If shots are the game, Iverson is the name.

He reached 40 points or more for the fifth time this season, doing it back-to-back for the first time, coming off 40 in last Thursday night's 109-106 loss in Houston. The Sixers are 2-3 during his 40-point explosions after going 0-8 in the first three seasons-plus of his career.

The only other time he reached 50 came during a loss in Cleveland on April 12, 1997, amid a memorable stretch of five consecutive games in which he scored 40 or more and the team lost all five.

Forty shots. Fifty points.

"I never saw it happen," Sixers center Theo Ratliff said after a 15-point, 13-rebound contribution of his own. "He had gotten close a few times, but if he's able to get free, to get those shots, take 'em.

"It got to the point where he knew he was about to get 50. That's Al. He wanted 50. He's been our scoring leader, and he did what we expect, to be aggressive, to get every point he can get. If we're losing and he's getting points, that's a problem, but if the team's playing well and we're winning, that's a no-lose situation."

But no one had to wait for Iverson to pack his arm in ice or catch his breath.

"I could play another game right now, I promise you that," he said.

"I just played my game. I've been taking a lot of shots since I was a little kid. That's what I do; I'm a scorer. You can't be a scorer if you don't take a lot of shots.

"I've been getting so much flak about playing games like they're my last, getting 40 [points] and not winning. . .people were looking at it like it was a bad thing. I look at it like sometimes you have a good night and your team doesn't win. When you score 40 and you win, what can you say about it then?"

And when you score 50? When you're just the second player in the league to score that many this season, following Clifford Robinson, of the Phoenix Suns?

"It's a great accomplishment," Iverson said. "Not a lot of guys can score 50, but winning makes it that much better. It lets me know I can score like I'm capable, and we can win. I'm the scorer on the team, like Theo, Eric Snow and Aaron McKie are the best defenders. That's no secret."

Nor did it faze him that the Kings were completing what matched the longest trip in franchise history, or that they have a penchant for putting up points of their own, or that he was going against Jason Williams, the flash-and-dash second-year guard.

"I play every game the same way, whether I'm going against a 20-year-old or a 40-year-old," Iverson said, "although I might attack an older guy a little more. I don't mind taking 40 shots, that's what I do.

"That's like saying 'Theo, do you wish you didn't have to play defense?' That's what he does, something we expect. It was like another game. [My teammates] say, 'Good game.' They expect me to do that."

Whatever you were expecting yesterday, you got most of it. Sixers point guard Eric Snow had 11 points, 13 assists, four steals and no turnovers in 38 terrific minutes. Tyrone Hill swept a team-high 14 rebounds. And the Kings' Chris Webber turned in a marvelous performance of 32 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists and two blocks before fouling out with 1:37 remaining.

While Webber drained 11 of 27 shots, the mercurial Williams managed only 5 of 16. But the Kings stayed in it most of the way, in part because Predrag Stojakovic scored 20 points, Scot Pollard scored a career-high 17 and they hit a collective 10 three-pointers.

But whatever else was going on, Iverson remained high above the crowd, the Sixers' scoring leader for the 24th game in succession.

"He was great," Brown said. "He rebounded [nine], tried to defend and we had a lot of guys play great. Eric played about as good as a point guard can play, Theo played great. . .I liked the way the team played. Allen had good shots, we got him good looks. We were real solid against a hard team to play against. The shots they take and make are difficult to defend or describe."

What Brown also liked was having the NBC eye on Iverson, who will make his All-Star Game debut Sunday in Oakland, Calif.

"It's nice to see Allen play so well on TV when we were actually one of the primary games [on the network schedule]," he said. "That has to mean a lot to everybody. There was a time we were never on. The reason we're on is because we've won some games and because Allen is on our team. Everybody talks about how many shots he takes, [but] it's hard to get 40 shots up against anybody. I thought his shot selection was pretty darn good and he made some big shots. It's nice to have people watch on TV and see that he doesn't just shoot the ball.

"I played with Rick Barry, and everybody complained that he shot all the time. His remark was, 'Half you guys can't get a lot of shots up.' I think it's justified, especially when defenses are geared to stop him, and he plays with so much energy, he gets knocked down. And we do run a lot of stuff for him and guys sacrifice for him, but I think it's a remarkable thing that [Allen] is physically able to do that most nights without looking like he's exhausted.

"If he's taking bad shots, I think it would be a terrible thing. But I go in that locker room and. . .they mumble a little bit, but I don't see many guys complaining. His assists have gone up with the number of shots going up. As long as they know he's trying to win the game and his coach runs stuff for him and he gets himself free, it's something I'm not opposed to."

Iverson seemed to see nothing remarkable about what he had done.

"I laid it on the line [the way I did when I was a rookie]," he said. "Regardless if I scored 50 or five, I try and play as hard as I can, like it's my last [game]," he said. "I've been saying that since I got here."

Go ahead, say it - the Kings, despite their 28-18 record, aren't exactly known for their defensive stands. But it didn't phase Iverson a bit when a reporter asked whether they were "soft."

"I feel like every defense I play against is soft," Iverson said. "I don't feel like anybody can guard me. That's not being arrogant or cocky, I believe in the talent God gave me. I don't believe any defense can stop me."

Certainly not yesterday.