Contest: We’ve Got History

My favorite Allen Iverson memory is when he spoke about the Allen Iverson Student Athletic Scholarship Program, and teared up when speaking about life in general. This is special to me, because it shows his class and that he isn’t a thug like many people believe. This is my favorite Allen Iverson.

first game of the NBA FINALS when AI had an amazing game and lit it up all night, there are soo many moments from the best cross over man ever but the first and only finals appearence by the Man was my favorite moment, cause no matter what u do in the season, its what u do in the playoffs that counts

My favorite Allen Iverson moment was not Draft Night ’96, not the Jordan crossover, not the MVP Press conference (showing up in a do-rag and a t-shirt), not the practice rant. His press conference the day he resigned with the Sixers is my favorite memory. He came back after unsucessful stops in Denver, Detroit & Memphis and looked like a broken man. He laughed, smiled, shook hands with the same Philadelphia Media who killed him in their papers; the same media (RIP Phil Jasner) who loved to hate and hated to love him. He cried and even SOBBED when discussing his relationship with the fans of Philadelphia. My wife and I watched this “Must-See” TV moment and cried with him. We both love AI (her for different reasons obviously… lol) & as soon as that conference was over bought floor level seats for his 1st game back home vs Denver. He left a defiant man and returned a broken one. He needed us when “we” (the fans in Philly) needed him 1 last time. Our Sixers weren’t giving us to smile and be happy about, but with AI hime, we had something… someone to root for! Hopefully, us 76er fans will be able to give him the proper send off he deserves.

The espn 30 for 30 story. everybody knows what kind of player he was, but dealing with a situation like that, was more than anything on the court

My fav memory of AI, was when he took the 76ers to the finals, and it was game 1 against the Lakers. It was even in LA, Lakers had home court. So Allen, shoots a fade away against Tyron Lue and Lue just falls down, then Allen walks over him as if to say “WHAT”. That was so awesome!

There r so many memories, gr8 memories when it comes 2 A.I. The stepover on Tyronne Lue, the dunk on Marcus Camby, the crossover commercials and the now infamous “practice” rant. I just luved the way he played. The way he got n2 the painted area, where he had no business being, and scoring on the opposing centers and forwards. The crossovers on David Wesley that sent Wesley on his @ss, the crossover on Jason Terry when he was still playing n Arizona is still freshly n my mind, the crossover on a young Derek Fisher, and of course, the crossover on MJ. All spectacular and jaw dropping. Those I would have 2 say r my fav memories of The Answer.

when he dropped 50 on toronto in the ’01 eastern conference semi-finals. he was absolutely unstoppable that series. he outplayed vince carter and became my favorite basketball player after that.

I have 2 moments of Allen Iverson that really stands out to me. The first one is when his mom had told him to try playing basketball sometime in his high chool days. He was playing football and had an award for being the best state QB or something like that. Then, he started to play basketball and loved it. However, the second moment, which is my favorite, is in the 2001 NBA All-Star. He led his East team to come back from 21 down, scoring 25 pts (15 in 4th), with help from Dikembe Mutombo’s 22 rebs and Stephon Marbury’s 3-pointers, to beat the West 111-110 and get his 1st All-Star MVP.

IVERSON BREAKS JORDAN’S ANKLES!!!!!!!! (ROOKIE YEAR)

The night he returned as a sixer in 2009. i was in attendance that night at the wachovia center. the week before i was at the sixers // hawks game at it was bare 1000 people there. But when chuck came back it was pandemonium. I remember getting there right before player introductions and when he came out i was almost in tears. He didnt have his best game and it took him a couple shots just to get his first bucket which was a tip-in lay up, me and the rest of the crowd went crazy. Happy I got to see my favorite player play in the city that’s his home.

The 90′s were a dark time for 76ers, and when we drafted Allen Iverson to be the franchise savior I was skeptical. However, when he crossed up the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan, I knew he was for real. That’s when I realized he truly was The Answer. That’s my favorite Allen Iverson moment.

Fave AI moment– The time – Feb 1996. The place – USAIR arena. The teams – Georgetown vs UCONN. Iverson vs Ray Allen. Beginning of second half. 19min 13 sec to be precise. Iverson runs upcourt and dunks ferociously on matador defending big. After the game he tells announcer ” I was going to pass but I saw the defender keep backing up so I decided to flush it on him” Greatest player pound for pound of all time.

My favorite was game one of the finals against the Lakers. The way he was able to carry the entire team and somehow win game one was amazing. I loved how he stepped over Lou as if he was saying Im above you guys and im not scared of anything you throw at me. Its just crazy to think that he got the Sixers to the finals by himself and gave the Lakers their only loss of the playoffs. Too bad he couldnt cap it off with the ring though.

I got to say my favourite move was his between the legS step back over tyrone lue. But more than any single move or game,it was his attitude and personality leaves something more. The whole hip hop and nba culture truly meshed together with Allen’s true personality, and I mean true. He gave you 100% of him on and off the court whether you want it or not. That’s revolutionary to me he was the first athlete not sugar coat or hide what he is, when I started to watch the nba. I know he’s not the first nor the last but someone with as much star power as him really makes it more eminent. Especially when you have guys in the league today who care more for attention than playtime and wins.The attention on Allen was never begged for but earned. So no matter how many less points he scored in his final years that will alaways stand with me…and that’s the REAL ANSWER.

My favorite memory of iverson was in February of 2005. Iverson scored 60 points in a win over the Orlando Magic, which was a record high he was only the second player to record a 60-point game in there franchise. Iverson is an icon to the NBA and will be talked/compared too for years!!!!

On June 16, Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers stole a nail-biting game 1 from the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2001 NBA Finals. While wearing a black and white version of the Reebok Answer IV, Iverson crossed helpless Tyronn Lue over, drained the shot and politely (if you will) stepped over a grounded Lue as he made his way to the other end of the court.

When I was seven AI gave me my first basketball memory. My father raised me to be a Laker from the day I was concived. Therfore I was required to watch the 2001 Finals, drink too much soda, and stay up past my bed time. My father is a basketball purist, and like most of them, belived Iverson to be a selfish waste of breathtaking talent. I, being a little kid at the time, I had no thoughts on this, and was wondering how true this all was. Once the game started I knew that Iverson was the Answer too all my questions. He dropped 30 in the first half, and I remeber vividly the first time I saw a player take over a game. Then I find out he was injured! At seven when a cut on the leg is a big deal, this was remarkable to me. But I was never more exited about a second half than I right then. The Lakers subbed for T-Lue and it looked like my dad was right. He was able to limit Iverson some, making some good defenseive plays and annoying my new favorite player. As the game was gettig into cruch time I knew in my bones AI would make a play. All of a sudden, Iverson unleashed a absurd move on Lue leaving on the ground, cause me to leap my little behind out of my chair and shout as AI spalshed a three and stepped over Lue, basicly finshed the game. I was happy the Lakers went on to win the title, but all I remebered was AI heart, courage and guts. Looking back the crossover it defined why AI had to be the Answer. He answered all my questions with one play. Do you have to conform? Do I have to do it their way? Can I do my thing and be sucessful? AI answered them all effecting society with his answers to the most difficult questions. He is bigger than basketball.

My favorite Allen Iverson moment happened in every single game he ever played in. Watching Allen Iverson fearlessly literally throw himself into the teeth of the defense time after time, more often than not ending up sprawled out on the floor. To watch the huge heart, never-say-die attitude, extreme aggresion towards the hoop despite his tiny build and the reckless abandon that the Answer played with really inspired me to keep attacking the rim, me being a slasher with a suspect jumpshot and give or take a pound exactly the same size as AI it was amazing to watch a guy playing that way and being among the best players in the world. Using that playing style eventually cost me my left meniscus and today I can’t play anymore, but thinking back at the numerous times getting right up after being decked by a big guy and watching the moral of the opponents crumble because the smallest guy on the floor just didn’t fear taking a beating make me not regret a single hazardous drive to the cup. Iverson showed me that one could play that way and be succesful no matter how many times you got knocked down. For that I will forever be thankful. Iverson’s headstrong insistence on playing that way eventually cost him his job in the NBA, but he just couldn’t change it, for him this was the only way to play. Whether it was smart of not I don’t know, but a guy sticking to his guns like that has to be respected.

My favourite ai moment is in his game against the bulls when he did the crossover against mj and in front of the world

When he crossed up Antonio Daniel’s and broke one of his ankles then gave him time to think he could pick himself up just so he could break the other one before rolling that rock smoother than Barry White off the glass for his 40th point. I watched A.I from the age of 7 I still got those bad boys recorded on old school video! His days in Philly were what inspired my love of the game and turned me into a Philado faithful and even though he’s gone now thats still my team! I’ve never seen anything quite like him in my life and I know I won’t again.

Question “Answer”ed

Being a lifelong Philadelphian and Sixers fan it is hard to pin down one AI moment as my favorite, he rejuvinated basketball in this town after many dark years for the franchise after the trade of Charles Barkley. So im just going to go with a whole year as my moment, 2001. This will always be my all time favorite Philly squad and was without a doubt AI’s best year as a pro. What a wonderful team of hard nosed scrappy players surounded by one mercurial superstar. Everything fell into place that year for the team and AI, starting out the season 10-0, the blockbuster Theo Ratliff for Dikembe Mutumbo trade after the all-star break, Larry Browm coach of the year, Aaron Mickie 6th man of the year, Dikembe Mutumbo defensive player of the year and of course AI MVP. But true memories and greatness come in the post season and in the 01 playoffs AI did not dissapoint. Starting out by excersing some demons and out dueling Reggie Miller and the Pacers who had eliminated the Sixers from the playoffs the previous two seasons. No one will ever forget the two 50 plus performances and out lasting Vince Carter and the Raptors in a classic 7 game series. There was the amazing performance in a game 6 loss to the Bucks where AI single handedly rallied the Sixers from 20 plus down in the second half by dropping 26 pts in the 4th quarter and setting the tone for a game 7 rout of Milwaukee. Then everything culminating with the stunning upset of the Lakers in game 1 of the Finals with AI dropping 48 points and the infamous step over Tyronne Lue. AI is truly one in a million and in 2001 he captured the hearts of a whole city, that is my moment!!

What a gangsta.

Seriously, can one remember the last time one felt overwhelmingly awed by a man whose physical stature and weight are roughly my own? He is one of those very few people whose singular presence and intensity draw everyone’s attention towards him, though not in the way that Jordan had with his fluid grace and commanding, often calm demeanor. Rather, it is the absolute desire and passion, the angry intensity and love, the violence, really, with which he goes about his life’s work, which captivate the audience and the imagination. Men like Iverson, whose actual feats are already so incredibly daring, have the ability to make one believe, on certain nights, that he could just about pull off any feat imaginable, no matter the implausibility. Never have I seen so small a man seem so big among men easily twice or sometimes even three times his size. Barreling headfirst into a patch of raw muscle and power, he has never seemed to me to be outmatched in any way whatsoever. If anything, he has always seemed underplayed. He has made what most dare not dream of seem simple.

Like I said, he has never seemed small.This is not to say that everything he has done has looked graceful or beautiful; though, granted, much of it has. However, some of his most powerful statements have been made in the ugliest and most awkward of fashions. What sets them apart is the absolute devotion and drive with which they have been delivered. One witnesses in these moments an explosion of pure spirit form as opposed to a stylistic condensation harnessed into fluidity and motion.

I think what sets him apart, at least in my own mind, more than anything, is how, when watching one of the old Finals games between the Lakers and the Sixers in 2001 (I can’t recall which specific game), although Shaq and Bryant had a terrific individual and combined performance, the only palpable image I can readily recall is that of Iverson standing on the sideline with his arms resting on his haunches (and here is where I may have mashed together other images in my mind and not quite remembered this right but, regardless, this is the image that is burned in my memory, I’ll go rewatch this game later), a slight pout on his face, having kept his team in the game countless times with an absolutely dazzling 40+ point performance, scoring at will and with staggering ease, and a fire in his gaze that was truly unquenchable, that screamed invincibility. A violent, angry, powerful gaze. A gaze that was begging to ”get it on”. A gaze that touched me and certainly everyone who witnessed it. A gaze that truly, one knew, belonged to a man who would never accept defeat or compromise. A gaze that simply elevated him and his life to eternity and timelessness; a gaze that will never again be reproduced.

What a gangsta.

My memory of The Answer started in ’96. I am originally from New Mexico and always and continue to follow UNM men’s basketball. In the ’96 tourney, UNM was set to play Georgetown. I had very little access to ESPN and no internet and knew nothing about this Hoyas’ team except word-of-mouth knowledge of a quick scoring guard named Iverson. Two of my friends and I found a spot to watch this game and were all intrigued by this quick, flashy, efficient guard. As the story goes, A.I. quickly began to build a legacy in the L and in the spring of ’00, I had the pleasure to see him play in person. However, the pleasure and amazement was at its most during warm-ups. Before stadiums cracked down on letting people with even the cheapest tickets (my dad and I) walk down to courtside behind the baskets, my dad and I stood about 30 feet from A.I. taking warm-up J’s in Oakland. Like many, many games, he did his thing and will always be a fan no matter what he does and where he plays. – I usually never comment on websites but I wanted to take the opportunity to reflect and write a tribute on A.I. and maybe win a nice M&N jacket.

His best moment is not only when he breaks a few ankles or scores a ton of points. But in the 2001 NBA finals against the Toronto Raptors Allen Iverson had 21 points and 16 assists. It was considered an off night but this was amazing! He shared the ball better then Nash and Stockton combined. Best PG played game I’ve watched. He led his team to a win and to the Finals. Amazing moment that I witnessed and I thought it was great. 16 assists was his career high at the time. It was truly where amazing happens.

Being a laker fan watching the 2001 Finals billed as David Vs Goliath, and that first game AI was just crazy good. People forget that the Lakers had not lost a playoff game going into the finals. So to watch this little guy going up against the defending champs on the road and leading them to an OT victory was incredible. Sure they lost the next four games and the Lakers had the best Postseason in NBA history, but that one blemish was all due too the greatness of Allen Iverson.