Allen Iverson 22pts vs Cavs 00/01 NBA MVP *8-0 Starts

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Uploaded by on Aug 31, 2011

With a strong finish, the Philadelphia
76ers matched the best start in franchise history.

Allen Iverson and Theo Ratliff powered a third-quarter charge
and the 76ers remained unbeaten by controlling the second half
in a 107-98 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

At 8-0, the Sixers are the NBA's lone undefeated team. They
tied the start of the 1979-80 squad, which featured Julius
Erving, Andrew Toney, Darryl Dawkins and current assistant coach
Maurice Cheeks and reached the NBA Finals.

"It should mean a lot to them. I'm proud of my team," Sixers
coach Larry Brown said. "I'm proud of the fact that we've had
some injuries and we had a lot of guys step up and play well.
We've played unselfishly, but it's eight games and we have to
keep that in mind."

Philadelphia hosts Miami on Friday with a chance to break the
club mark. The NBA record for best start is 15-0, shared by the
1949-50 Washington Capitols and the 1993-94 Houston Rockets.

"Everybody wants to be the first team that knocks us off," said
Iverson. "Everybody wants to be that team. It's going to be
tough. We have to really dig in and sneak some wins out of
other teams' houses. For right know, I'm just living for the
moment and I just hope it continues. I'm glad I'm a part of it."

Iverson scored 22 points, seven during an 18-0 surge that turned
a five-point deficit into a 70-57 lead midway through the third
period.

The Cavaliers missed eight straight shots during that stretch
and Ratliff was a big reason. Saddled by foul trouble in the
first half, the 6-10 center had three of his six blocks during
the run. Ratliff also scored 15 points.

"He did a good job offensively but just his presence underneath
caused them to miss some easy shots and get some 24-second
violations," Brown said. "But he's always been that for us.
That's why we need him out on the court. We can't afford for
him to get fouls and only play seven minutes in the first half.
That's one of the reasons why we had a problem defending in the
first half."

"I was just doing the same old thing that I try to do every time
I step out on the court -- to be that intimidating factor as far
as when guys try to get easy shots and easy layups," Ratliff
said. "I let them know it's not going to be that easy.

Philadelphia got a big offensive boost from George Lynch, who
scored a season-high 23 points and kept his team in the game in
the first half. The defensive-minded forward had not scored
more than 10 points in a game this season.

"I like him to do the dirty work," Brown joked. "How many
rebounds did he get? Just one defensive rebound so I have
something to talk to him about. He did a lot of great things."

"I knew he was going to say that," Lynch said. "I had (Robert)
`Tractor' Traylor on me. He's about 300 pounds to my 230 so
he's gonna win that battle the majority of the time. ... The
team needed me to score some points the way we were going. I
had the hot hand, some open looks and I was able to take
advantage of them. I've had those looks all season, it's just I
was making the shots tonight."

Eric Snow contributed 13 and seven assists for Philadelphia,
which was outshot and outrebounded but scored 29 points off 22
turnovers by Cleveland.

Former Sixer Clarence Weatherspoon scored 24 points, Robert
Traylor added a career-high 17 and Zydrunas Ilgauskas 16 for the
Cavaliers (6-2). The frontcourt trio thrived while Ratliff was
on the bench with foul trouble but got little help from the
perimeter players.

"We let them dictate the play to us," Weatherspoon said. "We
never got into a rhythm. They came after us and we just didn't
match it. It's hard to come back on a team that has so many
scorers and plays a good half-court defense."

The Cavs have lost their last six meetings with the Sixers.

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