For once, Marbury one-ups Iverson; but did he really? Between them, Stephon Marbury and Allen Iverson scored 99 points in their first games back after the All-Star break -- 50 for Marbury in an overtime loss to the Lakers, 49 for Iverson in a comeback victory over the Bucks.  Marbury finally one-upped Iverson. But as always, Marbury's personal success came with a caveat.  His snakebitten Nets lost again, while Iverson's 76ers enjoyed a stirring win that enhanced the best record in the league.  ``Career night,'' Marbury said when asked to describe his performance, which came 48 hours after he hit two 3-pointers in the final minute of the All-Star game to give the East a stunning 111-110 comeback victory.  For Marbury, his ``career night'' came in New Jersey's 35th loss of the season, a sobering fact for an extremely talented player stuck with the misfortune of having made a career decision that sentenced him to showcasing his stuff in relative obscurity for a perpetually disappointing franchise.  It has been almost two years since Marbury forced a trade to the Nets, choosing to be closer to his New York roots than to shoot for a dynasty alongside Kevin Garnett in Minnesota.  Since then, the losing has been constant in New Jersey, where the Nets play to 12,000 empty seats on most nights. They drew just their second sellout crowd of the season Tuesday night in their 113-110 overtime loss to the Lakers.  Iverson and Marbury have been friendly rivals since their pre-NBA days, each one believing deep in his heart that he is the better player.  During their first 4 1/2 NBA seasons, Iverson has had the edge.  Iverson was drafted higher, has led the league in scoring and has built his team into an NBA powerhouse.  And as prolific a scorer as Marbury may be, Iverson has a magnetism to him that makes people marvel at how such a small man -- despite what he's listed at, Iverson is about 5-foot-9 and 160 pounds -- can get knocked around so violently yet still produce nearly 30 points a night.  Prior to Marbury hitting his two 3-pointers in the final minute of the All-Star game, it was Iverson who led the East back from a 21-point deficit by scoring 15 points in the fourth quarter -- a dramatic offensive outburst that earned him unanimous MVP honors.  Both players produced worthy sequels Tuesday night.  Marbury came close to beating the Lakers by himself. He scored 19 points in the fourth quarter, including two 3-pointers in the final minute of regulation that forced the overtime. Marbury did not score in overtime, missing a 3-pointer from about 30 feet away that would have tied it at the buzzer.  ``He's always been a great player,'' Shaquille O'Neal said of Marbury. ``He probably should have been an All-Star the last four years. With the new rules, you can't stop him.''  Iverson scored 11 in the fourth quarter as the Sixers won for the 15th time in their last 17 road games and improved the league's best record to 37-14.  Trailing 104-99, Iverson scored with 57 seconds left and drew a foul. When he missed the free throw, George Lynch rebounded and Iverson scored again. With the Sixers racing upcourt after a Milwaukee turnover, Bucks guard Sam Cassell fouled Iverson with 32 seconds left. Iverson knocked down both free throws.  The Sixers finally nailed down the win with a frantic ball-movement sequence that looked like something out of the Harlem Globetrotters repertoire or Dean Smith's old Four Corners playbook.  Darting passes around the perimeter for 13 seconds as the Bucks tried to foul, the Sixers ran all but three-tenths of a second off the clock before Milwaukee could foul.  It was yet another exhilarating victory for the Sixers, who have been atop the NBA standings all season despite injuries to several key players.  It also was the 26th time Iverson has scored 40 or more points (including four games of 50 or more).  Marbury's performance, meanwhile, was his first 50-point game.  In late June 1996 when Iverson was leaving Georgetown after his sophomore season and Marbury was leaving Georgia Tech as a freshman, the two sat in the same room at a hotel near the Meadowlands on the day before the NBA draft.  With everyone wondering which of the two the 76ers would select, Marbury predicted it would be Iverson.  ``Allen is the best point guard in college basketball -- I'm second,'' Marbury said. ``If both of us were sophomores, it might be different.''  Marbury has been a step behind Iverson in terms of success ever since. If fate hadn't led them to where they are now, Marbury's 50-point performance might have truly one-upped Iverson's 49.		Author Chris Sheridan   Source Yahoo AP Sports   Return to Articles