All the Philadelphia 76ers had to do was win, and
home-court advantage was theirs for at least the first round of the
playoffs.
Instead, the 76ers had one of their worst first quarters of the
season and never quite recovered. Now home-court advantage rides on
the very last game of the season.
"I never thought it would come to the last game to decide our
playoff spot," Allen Iverson said after the 76ers lost to the
Chicago Bulls 115-106 Tuesday night.
The 76ers' third straight loss dropped them into a tie with
Indiana for third place in the Eastern Conference, and it also
clinched the Atlantic Division title for the New Jersey Nets. Both
teams wrap up their regular seasons Wednesday night.
A loss could drop Philadelphia to as low as fifth in the East.
"When you lose a ballgame, especially to a team not going to
the playoffs, and we're trying to get home-court advantage, that
opens the window to say a lot of negative things about your own
team," Iverson said.
Actually, nothing more really needed to be said. The box score
summed it up: The 76ers fell behind 35-18 in the first quarter,
when they shot 24 percent from the floor.
"That's about as bad a first quarter as we played," coach
Larry Brown said. ``We had no energy, and took awful shots."
Though Iverson matched his season high with 42 points,
Philadelphia shot 38 percent. Eric Snow was the only other starter
in double figures, with 17. The final score might have been even
worse if the 76ers hadn't gone 40-of-44 from the line, including
17-of-18 by Iverson.
They couldn't find an answer for Eddy Curry, either. Curry made
his first eight shots on his way to a career-high 31 points. He
might have scored 40 if he hadn't been in foul trouble.
The Bulls finished the season 30-52; Curry ended up shooting
.580 from the field, the highest percentage for the Bulls since
1982-83, when Orlando Woolridge put up the same figure.
Jamal Crawford matched his career best with 33, and the Bulls
shot 63 percent, including 10-of-15 from 3-point range. The team's
30 victories are nine more than last season, and just six fewer
than it managed in the two previous seasons combined.
"As a team, we just wanted to end on a good note and get our
goal of 30 wins," said Crawford, who also had eight assists.
"It's exciting for us."
The Bulls have Curry and Crawford to thank for this one. The two
opened the game with their own 13-4 run, and the 76ers were
overwhelmed. Curry had a monster first quarter, going 8-for-8 and
matching the entire Philadelphia squad with 18 points. He didn't
miss a shot until there was 6:30 left in the first half, and he
finished the half with 24 points on 11-of-12 shooting.
"When you are out of the playoffs, it is easy to come in and
not give your best effort," Bulls coach Bill Cartwright said. "I
thought our guys have been terrific and showed a lot of character.
They showed great spirit."
Philadelphia trailed by as much as 17 early in the third, but
Iverson scored six straight points to pull them to 94-90 with 7:24
left in the game.
