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The School Newspaper of Harriton High School

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The School Newspaper of Harriton High School

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Carp’s Call

Daniel Carp
Sports Editor

Just as quickly as it seemed The Answer had left the NBA for ever, he responded to the question: will he ever play again? with, well, an Answer.  Allen Iverson barely had enough time to announce his retirement before he was quickly courted back to the place he called home for his first ten NBA seasons, Philadelphia.  On the fateful December afternoon when Iverson signed a one year, $1.3 million contract with the 76ers, reports spiraled across the sports media like a rampant tornado.  Could it be that Allen Iverson was finally returning to Philadelphia?  After all of the controversy with former 76ers head coach Larry Brown?  After the love-hate saga that consumed the city of brotherly love across two decades?  After using the word “practice” in one press conference over twenty times?
For me that day was the ultimate trip down memory lane.  The thought of Allen Iverson wearing a Sixers uniform again was almost strange to me the first time I though of it.  Then the memories came back of sitting in the Wachovia Center (then called the First Union Center) for epic playoff games during the Sixers’ push toward the 2001 NBA Finals.  Those were the glory days of Sixers basketball, where Iverson was invincible in his prime and had a great cast of supporting players in Raja Bell, Eric Snow, Aaron McKie, and Dikembe Mutombo.      The glory days were a time when the Sixers had brought this city out of a decade long sports slump.  Not since the Phillies magical World Series run of 1993 had a team in the city of brotherly love come this close to a championship until Iverson and the Sixers ventured all the way to the NBA Finals in 2001.  It was there that two native sons of Philadelphia- one by birth and the other by adoption- squared off in a conflict that divided the city.  Kobe Bryant, as we all know, is an alumnus of Lower Merion High School, but during that series Iverson captivated this city.  One of the defining video clips of his career comes from game one of that series, as Iverson stepped back along the bass line and with a devestating crossover dribble (his trademark) and drained a shot over Laker Tyronn Lue, promptly stepping over him on his way back down the court.  That shot swung the momentum in the direction of the 76ers and gave them their first and only win of that series.
After 2001, things began to fall apart around Allen Iverson in Philadelphia.  Still one of the most prominent scorers in the history of the game, Iverson did not lose a step after the magical finals run, but it seemed his teammates did.  The team slipped farther and farther away from the first tier of the NBA, and it seemed all hope was lost when head coach Larry Brown left for the Detroit Pistons in 2003.  After having multiple coaches over the course of the years 2003-2006, Iverson became increasingly unhappy with the direction the Sixers were going in.  He hit rock bottom in this city in 2006, and as a response was traded to the Denver Nuggets.  Iverson was a key force in Denver next to Carmello Anthony, but the team simply could not win.  After brief stops in Detroit and Memphis, it had seemed as though we would never see the Answer’s electrifying speed and finesse on the floor of the Wachovia Center again.  Until last week.
His first two games have not shown us much, but are nothing to laugh at.  Through two games, he averaged eleven points, two rebounds and four assists in a Sixers uniform.  He is by no means the Iverson of old, but we’ll see if he’s got any magic left in the tank.

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