Basketball: Tough 76ers end Lakers streak

LOS ANGELES - Allen Iverson scored 48 points, seven of them in overtime, as the Philadelphia 76ers shocked the Los Angeles Lakers with a gritty 107-101 win in the first match of the NBA finals yesterday.

The 76ers, after surviving two tough seven-game playoff series and resting for just two days, ended the defending champions' 19-game winning streak, which included 11 in the post-season.

The Lakers came in after nine days off and the only question seemed to be, would they become the first team to sweep the post-season?

"I'm glad nobody bet their life on it because they would definitely be dead right now," said Iverson, who agreed that Los Angeles were heavily favoured over Philadelphia.

"There are so many experts. But the only guys who really know are out on the court. We've got heart."

Shaquille O'Neal scored 44 points, but was only 10-for-22 from the free throw line for Los Angeles, who shot just 15-for-27, or 56 per cent, from the stripe.

Philadelphia missed just two free throws, going 23-for-25, or 92 per cent, but those two could have cost the game.

Dikembe Mutombo, who had a game-high 16 rebounds, missed two foul shots with the score tied at 94-94 with 34s remaining. But neither team could score the rest of the way in regulation time.

The 76ers trailed by as many as 13 points in the first quarter and led by as many as 15 in the third as both teams traded comebacks and finished the regulation four quarters tied at 94-94.

In the overtime period, the Lakers scored the first five points before reserve Raja Bell made a difficult scoop shot in the lane.

Iverson made two foul shots, a three-pointer for the lead and a jumper from the right baseline, to build a 103-99 margin.

Iverson had scored only three points in the fourth quarter but finished 18-for-41 and nine-for-nine from the foul line.

Meanwhile, NBA commissioner David Stern said he saw "no downside" if Michael Jordan returned as a player.

"There's no downside I can see. I guess the downside everyone's worrying about would be like if there was a major prize fighter who shouldn't take any more punches.

"But my guess is that's why Michael is testing himself in the gym. He'll make that judgment."

Jordan is working out hard and has opened the door more and more about a possible comeback.

This is despite those who say they would not want to see him diminished by age and would rather remember him in his freeze-frame pose after winning his sixth championship in 1998 on the last shot of his career.

- AGENCIES