Allen Iverson

Allen Iverson
Allen Ezail Iversonis an American retired professional basketball player who played for 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association. He played both the shooting guard and point guard positions. Iverson was an eleven-time NBA All-Star, won the All-Star game MVP award in 2001 and 2005, and was the NBA's Most Valuable Playerin 2001...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth7 June 1975
CityHampton, VA
CountryUnited States of America
We're not playing defense, ... We're not defending or rebounding the ball. That's taking away a lot of baskets because we can't run and we can't stop anybody.
We didn't get any stops. We are trying to get better defensively but we got beat by 30 points, so obviously we are not getting better defensively. ... Obviously if you get beat by 30 points then the coach can question your effort.
We had a real good meeting before the game in New York and I think it helped us out be-cause it got us focusing on what we need to do as a basketball team. I look at the stats and see that they still shot 50 percent and they almost scored 100 points and that's not something we want to give up. That's something we've got to look at as negative even though we got a win and try to improve on that.
The good part about this is you get to see what type of character you have as a team.
It probably was a fall and it swelled up on me. I kept playing on it. ... My doctors just said rest it as much as possible.
It's not like defenses are out there just giving guys 50 and 60 points. You have to look at what's going on this season and realize there are just as many great players playing today as there ever has been in this game.
That's something we expect from Dre every night, ... We know he has the ability to shut people down.
That is just something that I don't deal with. You may not think about it as much, but it is something that you must think about because if guys have families here and maybe have to get up and just leave. It would be tough, so it's something to think about. It is part of the business and you just have to deal with it as a professional.
It's big for us because we know the other teams are right around us for the playoffs. (But) we are not approaching games like that. We are just trying to win the game. We don't feel like we need to settle for the eighth or seventh seed, we feel like we can get as high as we want to.
It was a great feeling (to sit out) because I didn't feel good at all, ... I was telling Coach when I was getting ready to go back in that I wasn't feeling that well and he just told me to come back, and fortunately everything worked out fine. I just didn't feel good. I was dizzy out there the whole game. Once I stopped playing at halftime and came back in, I just never felt right. I think I'm coming down with something.
It was a great feeling, man. My first time being here, people embracing me the way they were. It's something I'm going to cherish ... It kind of made me more nervous, just wanting to give them a good show.
It's sore, but that's what I expected. I knew that once I missed the road trip that I was going to try to go the first game back. We had a couple of days off and I had a chance to practice once, so I'll be ready to go tomorrow.
It makes it that much more important. I don't think it will have us play any harder because if you're not playing hard at this point with these games right here, then you're not gonna play hard anyway.
It makes it that much easier for me, especially when he gets that attention on the post and people double him, and I get the entry pass. I get people running out at me, I can drive to the basket or hit that shot. And running the pick-and-roll, when guys try to take the ball out of my hands, all I do is make that one little pass at the free throw line. And when (Webber) is knocking it down, it?s tough for a team to stop us.