| Allen Iverson Crossover |
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Affichage : 2152602
Durée : 58 s |
| Allen Iverson College Mix - Georgetown University |
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For those who were there at McDonough
Gymnasium on August 4, 1994, few will forget
the arrival of a 6-0 freshman guard who
needed no introduction. The rumors of Allen
Iverson's arrival to the Kenner Summer League
were true, and by game's end, Iverson had
scored 40 points. By the Sunday afternoon
final, before an overflow crowd inside the
gym and a crowd of those outside who could
not get in, Iverson finished a combined 99
point effort in three days against some of
the best collegiate talent in the city. This,
of course, from a player that had not played
organized basketball in over a year.
The Allen Iverson years had begun.
A brief profile can't do justice to tell the
story of one of the greatest pure athletes
ever to attend Georgetown, a man without peer
in his talent over two years at the
collegiate level. Just a year before his
Kenner debut, few would have imagined Allen
Iverson ever playing college basketball.
Iverson was not only a 31 point a game guard
for Bethel HS, but a football player of
tremendous skill. As a quarterback and
defensive back his sophomore season, he
produced nearly 1,600 yards offense and 13
INT's. By his junior year, he accounted for
2,204 yards, 21 touchdowns by rush or
interception, and 14 touchdown passes. In a
region which has produced NFL quarterbacks
such as Michael Vick and Aaron Brooks, there
are those who will still say "Bubbachuck"
Iverson was better than both of them. Schools
such as Arkansas, Kentucky, Duke, and three
dozen other top programs across two sports
were vying for perhaps the greatest two-sport
star the Tidewater had ever produced.
When he led Bethel to the state title,
someone asked what it was like to win the
title. "I'm going to get one in basketball
now," which he did. In late February, 1993,
en route to the state title he had promised,
Iverson was one of a large group of Bethel
teammates at a Hampton bowling alley when a
fight broke out between students from rival
schools trading racial insults. Three people
were hurt in the aftermath. Despite
conflicting testimony from eyewitnesses and
no clear evidence linking him to the crime,
Iverson was one of four black students
arrested.
Racial tensions were heightened when the
prosecutors passed on a misdemeanor assault
charge and charged Iverson with three counts
of felony "maiming by mob", which carried a
20 year prison sentence. Despite video
evidence which did not place Iverson in the
crowd at the time of the fight, he was
convicted in a racially charged case.
The 20 year sentence was later reduced to
five, and Iverson was granted clemency by
Gov. Douglas Wilder three months later,
sending Iverson to a detention program at an
alternative high school. (The original
charges were thrown out by the Virginia court
of appeals in 1995.)
In the spring of 1994, with Iverson still in
detention, his mother approached John
Thompson with a plea to help her son get to
college and start a new chapter of his life.
Though Thompson had passed on a number of
troubled players in the past, he offered
Iverson a scholarship in April of that
season, contingent upon his completion of
high school and his legal release, which was
granted 48 hours before his Kenner debut.
By his debut in a Georgetown uniform in
November 1994, Iverson had been the subject
of intense national media attention. In the
Hoyas' annual exhibition with Fort Hood,
Iverson scored 36 points, five assists, and
three steals in 23 minutes. Local columnists
were in awe.
"Hang his number up in the rafters," wrote
Tom Knott of the Washington Times. "He's
better than most of the point guards in the
NBA right now."
"I saw Lew Alcindor, Austin Carr, Moses
Malone, Alonzo Mourning, Albert King, Ralph
Sampson and Patrick Ewing play in high
school," said the Post's Thomas Boswell.
"Now, I have two memories on my first
impression top shelf. The man who became
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Allen Iverson."
Iverson opened the 1994-95 season in Memphis,
TN in a 97-79 loss to defending NCAA champion
Arkansas, scoring 19 points. Six days later,
he scored 31 in a nationally televised game
with DePaul, followed by 30 four days later
against Providence, leading the team in
scoring 22 times that season. His only game
under double figures for the season (and his
career) was a game where he played only ten
minutes in a loss at Villanova, a game
Georgetown coach John Thompson threatened to
forfeit when a group of Villanova students
paraded through the Spectrum in black and
white-striped prison garb, with a sign
comparing Iverson to O.J. Simpson.
"You accept certain ribbing, but there is a
line," Thompson said after the game. "I
canî–¹ condone any Christian university
sitting and watching that happen...If that
happens [again], Iî–² going to walk. Itî–¸
that simple." Such fan behavior was not seen
thereafter.
Later in the season, with President Bill
Clinton in attendance, Iverson scored 26 as
the Hoyas routed Villanova, 77-52. He
followed it up with 21 to beat Syracuse, 28
versus St. John's, 31 in a Big East
tournament opener with Miami (a game that saw
Iverson outscore the entire Hurricane team at
the end of the first half), and 27 versus
Connecticut in the semis. In the NCAA
regional, he scored 24 in the loss, but held
Jeff McInnis to 1 for 8 shooting. By season's
end, Allen Iverson had been named Big East
Player of the Week nine times, Rookie of the
Year, a second team all-conference selection,
and honorable mention All-America recipient.
Having led the Hoyas in points and steals en
route to the school's first NCAA regional
appearance since 1989, Iverson was already a
star. By 1996, he would become nothing less
than a sensation.
The leaser of a talented team that featured
four future NBA stars, Allen Iverson
dominated the 1995-96 season as no Hoya has
done before or since. Adept at the crossover
dribble that became his NBA trademark,
lightning quick to the basket, and able to
score on opponents at will, Iverson was
largely unstoppable. Even more impressive was
an effort to improve his shooting touch, for
despite averaging 20.4 points as a freshman
in 1994-95 (2nd all time for a Georgetown
rookie), Iverson only shot 39 percent from
the field, 23 percent from three, and 19
percent from three in Big East play. For his
sophomore season, his field shooting
increased to 48 percent, his three point mark
to 36 percent. The results were striking.
In the pre-season NIT versus Temple, Iverson
shot 50 percent for 24 points and a career
high 10 rebounds. After a 23 point effort
against Georgia Tech, he scored a career high
40 against Arizona, one of two 40+ point
games that season. In Big East play, Iverson
could ring up points with ease, such as the
game where he scored 21 points in only 20
minutes against Rutgers.
In the final three months of the season,
Iverson led the team in 21 of the team's 25
games: 40 against Seton Hall, 39 against St.
John's, 34 against Providence. He scored 30
in a wild win over Memphis, and followed it
up two nights later with 26 in an upset of #3
Connecticut. For the game, Iverson totalled
26 points, 8 steals, and 6 assists, including
a soaring dunk past Ray Allen and the
Huskies. It was the highest ranked team any
Georgetown team had defeated since 1988. His
best performance of the season might have
been a 37 point, 8 rebound, and three steal
effort against #6 ranked Villanova, playing
only 27 minutes. The 106-68 win represents
the sixth largest margin of victory and the
largest margin ever by a Georgetown team
against a top 10 opponent.
Iverson was capable of an off game;
unfortunately, two came at particularly
inopportune times for the Hoyas' hopes for a
national title. Entering the 1996 Big East
Final with a #1 seed on the line, Iverson
shot 4 for 15 and the Hoyas lost by one,
76-75. As a result of the loss, Georgetown
was seeded #2 behind top ranked UMass, and in
the regional final between the two teams
Iverson struggled with a 6 for 21 effort in
the loss. For the season, though, his
statistics were astonishing: his 926 points
broke the then-record by 124 points. He set
new single season marks in field goals, field
goal attempts, three pointers, three point
attempts, steals, minutes, and scoring
average (25.0), the latter of which ranked
7th in the nation that season. The Big East's
defensive player of the year, he was named a
consensus All-American amidst numerous other
awards.
If he could somehow have stayed four years,
Iverson undoubtedly would have shredded the
Georgetown record books. But whatever hopes
existed for Iverson to resist the lure of the
NBA were short lived, particularly with the
news that one of his sisters had fallen ill.
Seeing the opportunity to take care of his
family's medical needs, Iverson announced for
the NBA draft soon after the end of his
sophomore season, becoming the first
Georgetown player in the Thompson era to do
so. The compact that had bound so many great
Hoya players to a four year commitment--from
Ewing to Williams, Mourning to Mutombo--had
now been broken.
The first pick in the 1996 NBA draft, Iverson
signed a $3.9 million contract with the
Philadelphia 76ers and a ten year, $50
million deal with Reebok. His effort on the
court is well known and respected, but for
all the media portrayals of Iverson as the
anti-hero, an icon of a "Hip Hop Nation" that
ran counter to the NBA's carefully
constructed marketing image, or as a symbol
of all that is allegedly wrong in
professional basketball, he remains
remarkably well-grounded.
Married for six years and the father of two,
Iverson is fiercely loyal to his teammates
and to his childhood friends. He considered
it an honor to play for the U.S. Olympic team
in 2004 when other NBA stars passed on the
offer, and maintains a number of charity
events to benefit his local community. In
comparison to his NBA career, his years at
Georgetown were largely free of the intense
media and personal scrutiny, providing at
least two years where he could grow as a
person as well as a basketball player.
His arrival and exit at Georgetown is still a
source of debate in some circles, but his
performance on the court is not. Allen
Iverson found a home, even briefly, at the
Hilltop, and remains one of its brightest
stars. "In my heart, I know I'm a basketball
player," Iverson said following his 2006 NBA
trade, "being that I know I can play with the
best of them."
From that first Kenner League game on 1994,
no one has doubted it since.
Tags : allen iverson answer sixers 76ers nba rookie reebok mvp nike iguodala slam dunk highlight crossover commercial mix |
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Affichage : 350104
Durée : 169 s |
| Allen Iverson vs Michael Jordan (Final NBA Game) Part 2 |
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Michael Jordan's coach pleaded with him to go
back in the game, and the opposing coach made
sure Jordan had the chance to end his career
with a basket.
Jordan's last shot was a free throw, and like
his final appearance in an NBA uniform, it
was good.
One of the greatest players in NBA history
played the final game of his illustrious
career Wednesday night, not in the setting
that he would have preferred but in a special
atmosphere nonetheless. Jordan's final moment
on the court ended with him receiving
applause and a lengthy standing ovation from
nearly everyone in the arena -- including the
coaches and the other players.
He soaked it all up with a wide smile and a
wave to the crowd after exiting for good with
1:44 remaining in the fourth quarter of a
107-87 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.
``Now I guess it hits me that I'm not going
to be in a uniform anymore -- and that's not
a terrible feeling,'' Jordan said afterward.
``It's something that I've come to grips
with, and it's time. This is the final
retirement.''
Jordan finished with 15 points, four rebounds
and four assists in 28 minutes -- drawing
several adoring ovations from the last
sellout crowd that will ever watch him play.
``The Philly people did a great job. They
gave me the biggest inspiration, in a
sense,'' Jordan said. ``Obviously, they
wanted to see me make a couple of baskets and
then come off. That was very, very
respectful, and I had a good time.''
Jordan's final points almost looked scripted,
with Eric Snow of the 76ers fouling him in
the backcourt for no apparent reason except
to send him to the line.
``Coach (Larry Brown) told me to foul him,
get him to the line to get some points and
get him out of there,'' Snow said.
Both foul shots went in, and the Wizards
committed a foul one second later so that
Jordan could be removed from the game and
receive the proper send-off. In a rare scene,
the 10 players who remained on the court
turned to Jordan and applauded, too.
The 40-year-old Jordan would have preferred
to end his career in the playoffs, but the
Wizards never clicked during his two years in
Washington and finished 37-45 in both
seasons.
But that was merely a footnote on this
stirring night, the last time the basketball
public was treated to one of the greatest
athletes in history playing the game one last
time.
Jordan finished his career with 32,292 points
-- the third-highest total in league history,
behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone.
His final career average of 30.12 goes down
as the best in NBA history, just ahead of
Wilt Chamberlain's 30.07.
``I never, never took the game for granted. I
was very true to the game, and the game was
very true to me. It was just that simple,''
Jordan said.
With the Sixers ahead by 21 points with 9 1/2
minutes remaining, the crowd began chanting
``We want Mike.'' The chant grew louder as
the period progressed with Jordan remaining
seated, and fans ignored the game to stand
and stare at the Wizards' bench, wondering
why Jordan wasn't playing.
This being Philadelphia, they eventually
booed.
Jordan finally pulled his warmups off and
re-entered the game with 2:35 left for his
brief final appearance.
``I played here. I told him I at least have
to be able to come back (to Philadelphia),''
Wizards coach Doug Collins said. ``I told him
to go back in for a minute. He said, 'I'm
stiff.' I said, 'Please. They want to see
you.' He said, 'Larry Hughes is going to foul
out soon, so put me in then.'''
Earlier in the game, Jordan showed his age.
There was a play in the first quarter when he
looked like the Jordan of old, except for the
result. Starting near the foul line, Jordan
ducked his shoulder, lowered his head, stuck
out his tongue and drove to his right, the
ball rolling off his fingers ever so softly
as it arched toward the net.
Rather than going in, though, the ball hit
the front rim and missed -- one of several of
his shots that came up a few inches short.
One of the exceptions was Jordan's final shot
of the first half -- a one-handed dunk that
came after he received a nice pass under the
basket from Bobby Simmons.
Jordan hit his first two shots of the third
quarter but didn't do much else positive in
the period. On an alley-oop pass from Tyronn
Lue, the ball hit him in the fingertips and
bounced harmlessly away. A lazy crosscourt
pass was picked off by Aaron McKie, leading
to one of Philadelphia's 31 fast-break
points. Jordan's final field-goal attempt was
a missed layup with 8:13 remaining.
``I'm not embarrassed,'' Jordan said, ``but
it's just not ... I've had better feelings in
terms of playing a competitive game.''
The standing ovation that Jordan received
lasted about three minutes, with Jordan
smiling, nodding and chewing gum throughout.
The group Boyz II Men sang ``It's So Hard To
Say Goodbye'' between the first and second
quarters as a montage of Jordan's career
highlights was shown on the scoreboard.
Tags : allen iverson kobe bryant lebron james wade mcgrady o'neal jordan kidd pierce carter anthony marbury nba mix ad |
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Affichage : 2163888
Durée : 584 s |
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