So last weekend I was rewatching old NBA highlights, right? Kept seeing that insane Allen Iverson crossover against Tyronn Lue in the 2001 Finals. Got me wondering… how the heck did AI even drag that Philly squad against prime Shaq and Kobe? Felt like digging deeper.
Getting Started With The Research
First thing I did – pulled up Basketball Reference late last night after the kids crashed. Searched “2001 Philadelphia 76ers roster”. Damn, looking rough. Besides Iverson and Mutombo? Names like Eric Snow and Aaron McKie popped up. Spent like an hour just scanning basic stats. Realized I needed game-by-game Finals breakdowns.
Digging Into The Matchups
Made some strong coffee this morning. Got super granular:
- Big man disaster: Theo Ratliff and Matt Geiger were injured. Dikembe Mutombo played 45 minutes a game trying to guard Shaq alone. Nightmare fuel.
- Secondary scorers? Tyrone Hill… averaging 6 points. George Lynch? Like 5 points. Felt my heart sink seeing those numbers.
- Kobe defender: McKie actually did decent chasing Kobe around screens. 15 points per game off the bench? Wild.
Started scribbling notes comparing Philly’s rotation to the Lakers: Fisher/Horry/Grant vs Snow/Hill/Lynch. The gap felt bigger than I remembered. Seriously impressed AI dropped 48 in Game 1 against that.
The Realization Hit Me
Around lunchtime it clicked – Mutombo got traded mid-season. Completely forgot! Looked up February 2001 trades. Philly sent Ratliff (already hurt) and Toni Kukoc packing for Dikembe. Explains why their bench looked so thin… they’d mortgaged depth for one star center to counter Shaq.
Ended up sprawled on the living room floor with printouts everywhere. My wife walked in just muttering “basketball again?” while stepping over defensive rating sheets. Couldn’t stop thinking about Philly’s offense though – practically every possession was Iverson iso. Nobody else could create their own shot. Snow just dribbled above the arc passing to AI.
Now I get why that team’s legendary. They were like a jalopy racing a Ferrari. Pure heart against stacked talent. Still can’t believe they stole Game 1.
