'I,' as in Incredible Iverson's 54 fuel must-win By the end of the torturous evening, the kid should have been reduced to a puddle. If he was 5-11, 165 pounds at the start, he should have been no more than maybe 5-8, 140 at the finish. He should have been drained of virtually everything inside him, taking fluids intravenously. But this was Allen Iverson raw, uncut, uncensored. This was a rap that rocked the 20,870 fans in the frenzied First Union Center last night, that left the Toronto Raptors back on their heels. This was Iverson as a pure energy form, a wisp of electricity careening through the arena, leaving breathtaking plays in his wake. This was Iverson setting a 76ers playoff record with 54 points, unfurling a performance for the ages. This was Iverson flashing past the record 50 points set by Billy Cunningham on April 1, 1970, against Milwaukee in the NBA's Eastern semifinals. This was Iverson smoking the Raptors with 19 straight points in the fourth quarter en route to a 97-92 victory that evened this semifinal series at 1-1 and set the stage for Games 3 and 4 Friday night and Sunday afternoon in Toronto. "The fourth quarter, he was just phenomenal,'' Sixers coach Larry Brown said. "He didn't settle for shots, he took it to the goal. His last field goal was a 12-footer; I commented that that's got to be his mindset. And he topped it off by deflecting the last inbounds pass.'' Who knows where Iverson's flood of energy comes from? His heart? His mind? His fierce determination? "Life,'' Iverson said, identifying the source after hitting an incredible 21 of 39 shots from the floor, three of his five three-point attempts and all nine of his free throws in 47 minutes. "Going through the things I've been through, trying to get to this point. "Poverty. Everything. I feel like God gave me an opportunity to do something positive with my life. A lot of guys from my neighborhood would love to be here. Not to score 54 points, but just to be here, on the bench, part of it. On the injured list. "People always talk about struggling in basketball. There's no struggling in basketball; there's a lot worse. People go through worse things in life every day. To go 0-for-something? I cherish life a little bit more than that.'' The Sixers fell behind by 17 points in their Game 1 loss and didn't wake up until the fourth quarter. Too late. They dropped back by 14 in the second quarter last night, then rode Iverson's magnificent wave. Eric Snow, with 10, was the only other Sixer to reach double figures, but he went 35 gritty minutes without a turnover. Tyrone Hill swept 10 rebounds, Dikembe Mutombo contributed nine rebounds and five blocks and Jumaine Jones had nine points and five rebounds in a 4-for-4 shooting performance. But this was pure Iverson. Two weeks from now, 100,000 people (200,000?) might tell you they were in the building. As people were filtering out of the arena, they were wondering whether they had seen anything like this since Michael Jordan. "He's one of those rare guys,'' the Sixers' Aaron McKie said. "Raw talent, raw athlete. It's funny how guys always talk about how important it is to get your rest, to be ready. He can be up all day, come in and give you 40 points and be ready to play another 48 minutes. "Some great players have come through here, but he's definitely different, in a league of his own in how he does things, how he makes things look so easy. He gets that little scoop shot up, and the big guys rarely block it. He uses his speed, he uses the mental part. "Obviously, he's scored 50 before, but not in a playoff atmosphere like this. This is how stars are born. Some guys are stars in college, get pumped up, come into the league and people are right away passing them the torch. He took it.'' Iverson was so dominant, he overshadowed a 28-point performance by the Raptors' Vince Carter that included four triples and a series of magical moves. Antonio Davis supported him with 19 points and 10 rebounds, but Dell Curry and Alvin Williams - the guys who scorched the Sixers in Game 1 - were rendered ineffective by a more dedicated defense. Curry, a deadly 7-for-12 in Game 1, was 3-for-10. Williams, 6-for-9 in Game 1, dropped to 6-for-17. "We're not going to go away,'' Raptors coach Lenny Wilkens said, knowing his defenders had let Iverson turn the corner and race to sweet spots too many times, but equally knowing this had been a night when Iverson had been a blur. Sixers backup center Todd MacCulloch, said of Iverson: "I wish I could find that fountain, that source of energy, and take a drink. He's fueled by his passion. He was very upset the last two years, losing in the second round, seeing Indiana end his dream. It was like he wouldn't let that happen tonight. You could see it in him right from the beginning. "There was one point when [backup center] Matt Geiger told him he had to keep it up, and he already had 40. He was playing as if he had 10. He took the team on his back.'' Wilkens, who guided Seattle, Cleveland and Atlanta through some white-hot playoff games, took the high road when someone asked whether Iverson's performance was reminiscent of Jordan. "Everyone ran into Jordan at that time and none of them beat him,'' Wilkens said. "This is a little different. If we come down here and we're 0-2, we'd be really upset and a little bit down. We didn't perform as well as we're capable, but we gave it a great effort. We got a split.  "We were right there, even though we didn't cover [Iverson] as well as we're capable; he was incredible. If our execution in a couple of situations had been a little better, who knows? We're not going to go away. We'll be back.''		Author Phil Jasner   Source Daily News   Return to Articles