AI take on the Hawks

[BornandDieHawks]

SEARCH Pick NewspaperStar-LedgerTimes, TrentonJersey JournalGloucester TimesExpress-TimesBridgeton NewsToday's SunbeamHunterdon DemocratReporter, SomersetThe Warren Reporter FIND A BUSINESS

More | Subscribe | 14-Day Archives (Free) | Long-Term Archives (Paid)

Sixers hang tough, down lowly Atlanta

Thursday, December 15, 2005

By JON MARKS

Staff Writer

PHILADELPHIA - The Sixers evidently knew something the fans didn't on a chilly night where they must have been counting arms and legs to come up with the announced crowd of 12,161 inside the Wachovia Center.

The Atlanta Hawks, their now 4-17 record aside, aren't such a bad team.

Coming off unlikely wins over the champion Spurs and the Cavaliers, the Hawks took the Sixers to the wire last night before Maurice Cheeks' team escaped with a 106-101 decision, its fourth straight win.

Thanks to Andre Iguodala's tie-breaking free throw with 38.3 seconds remaining, then seven more freebies - including four straight by Chris Webber, the Sixers are back atop the Atlantic Division and back over the .500 mark, 12-11.

The win didn't come easy.

"Regardless of their record and regardless of what you think of them, they have a lot of young guys who can play," said the Sixers' Allen Iverson, who bounced back from his worst game of the season vs. Minnesota on Monday (19 points) with 39 points, shooting 15-for-30. "People see their record and expect us to blow them out. But they have pride. They go out and compete."

Especially Hawks guard Tyronn Lue, who's been going at it with Iverson since their duel in the 2001 NBA Finals when Lue was a Laker.

"I love him to death," said Iverson, after Lue came off the bench to help bring the Hawks from as much as 41-27 down in the second period to holding a 95-94 lead with just 2:33 left. "With Lue, I know he is going to come at me and play hard.

"I'm used to it. I've seen a lot of Tyronn Lue in my life. I just take it on as a challenge and attack him."

While Iverson was attacking Lue, Webber was having another big night in the paint, too, scoring 29, though he needed 23 shots to do it. That means 53 of the Sixers' 88 shots went up between Webber and Iverson, usually not the kind of balance Cheeks likes.