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Iverson sparks 76ers past Spurs in OT
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-16 13:39
San Antonio finished 6-2 on its eight-game "Rodeo" road trip. The Spurs have
taken this trip for the past four seasons while a rodeo was held at the AT&T
Center and are a combined 25-6.
However, they appeared road weary Wednesday night.
The Spurs matched their season high with 23 turnovers and failed to put the
76ers away from the line in the fourth. After going 9-for-9 from the line in the
first three quarters, San Antonio was 8-for-13 in the fourth. Overtime was the
last thing the fatigued Spurs needed.
"Definitely. It was tough in overtime," Tony Parker said. "Maybe we ran out
of gas. But we should've won the game before that. We had it."
Parker led San Antonio with 23 points, and Duncan added 19 points and 15
rebounds. Nazr Mohammed, who played in Philadelphia for the first two-plus years
of his career, hit his first six shots from the field and finished with 16
points and a career-high 20 rebounds.
Manu Ginobili appeared to seal the game in regulation with two free throws
that put the Spurs up 92-87 with 20 seconds left. But Iverson cut the lead to
three, Ginobili hit one of two from the line, and Kyle Korver hit a three to
make it 93-92 with 7 seconds remaining.
"We made a huge mistake. It's hard to believe we let Korver get a three when
we're up four, but we did," Popovich said. "He got away from us. That was the
biggest play of the game."
After Michael Finley hit one of two from the line, Andre Iguodala followed a
Webber miss to tie it at 94 with 1.1 seconds to play.
"The rebound by Iguodala was the second biggest play," Popovich said. "We
gave it away on those two plays."
The Spurs almost pulled it out on the final play of regulation. Parker was
alone under the basket, but after reaching back to catch Duncan's pass with one
hand, his layup came just after the buzzer.
"I didn't know if there was going to be enough time. I turned to shoot and
then saw him at last second and tried to fire it to him real quick," Duncan
said. "I probably should have shot the ball."
Said Parker: "I should have maybe tipped it."
Philadelphia scored the first five points of overtime and led 100-96 with
47.4 seconds left. But a critical turnover by Iverson led to a tough finger roll
by Ginobili that made it 100-98 with 16.9 seconds remaining.
After Korver hit one of two from the line, Mohammed made 101-100 with 8
seconds left. Webber's two free throws put the 76ers up three, and Ginobili's
desperation 3-pointer was off target.
The Sixers play their final game before the All-Star break Thursday against
the Bulls in Chicago.
"We have to take all of the positive things that we did from this game and
carry it over to the next game," Iverson said. "This is just one game. We still
need to concentrate on the next one tomorrow."
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