MILWAUKEE — From the moment it was announced Saturday that Philadelphia's Allen Iverson would miss Game 3 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals against the Milwaukee Bucks, the figuring was that the 76ers had given a concession speech, that they were sacrificing the game so that Iverson could get a little bit healthy for the rest of the best-of-seven series.
The NBA's MVP had missed 21 of 26 shots Thursday night and had been walking with a bad limp for a week, so this decision was not unexpected.
The concession speech, though, was a little premature.
Yes, the Bucks beat the 76ers, 80-74, to take a 2-1 lead in the series, but it wasn't until 76er Coach Larry Brown yelled "no fouls," with 23 seconds left that the concession speech was given.
Brown really got to be a coach Saturday, more than most NBA coaches. He was trying to build sand castles out of air, carve an ice sculpture out of water. Brown could connive and conjure and create and nothing is more fun for the gym rat from New York, but the building materials were missing.
Yet there was Brown, a timeout called with 2:35 left, his 76ers having just caused Milwaukee's Ray Allen to give up the basketball and the coach ran onto the Bradley Center court at full sprint so that he could pat Aaron McKie on the back, hug Dikembe Mutombo's waist, high-five Eric Snow.
The 76ers were behind, 77-70, and there was a bit of miracle in that. There would be no full miracle. Not with Iverson sitting in a hotel suite with ice and heat and machines and massages going on to care for his injured hip and buttocks.
But Brown celebrated the bravery of his kids, as he kept calling the 76ers. Brown called the game "fun."
Milwaukee Coach George Karl praised the Buck defense, which held the 76ers to 35.7% shooting.
This great feat, though, was accomplished against a team that had nine men dressed. This masterful defense was played against a team that once had Raja Bell, Todd MacCulloch, Rodney Buford, Kevin Ollie and Snow on the floor. And with that lineup, Philadelphia was leading in the second quarter.
"I walked into my dressing room after the game," Brown said, "and I realized I had never been any prouder of a team than I was of this group tonight. They defended as well as you can defend against a great offensive team. We made it a low-post game as best we could. We were in it until the end."
