Iverson’s Not Enough as Spurs Outlast 76ers

Twin Towers are still better than a one-man show.

Tim Duncan and David Robinson overwhelmed the 76ers and overshadowed a dazzling effort by Allen Iverson as the San Antonio Spurs prevailed, 94-91, Monday night at Philadelphia.

Duncan had 26 points and 17 rebounds, and Robinson had 19 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocked shots. The Spurs had a season-high 15 blocks and survived Iverson’s 35 points on 34 shots.

“When you have one guy who takes 30 shots, it makes it tough down the stretch on the other guys,” Robinson said. “You look at their lineup, they don’t have a lot of huge guys. They fight their tails off for 48 minutes, but eventually you get worn down.”

On a night when the Spurs overwhelmed the 76ers with their size, the decisive basket came from the shortest player on the court. The 5-foot-10 Avery Johnson scored on a layup off a pass from Duncan to give the Spurs a 90-89 lead with 29 seconds left.

Iverson, who missed 21 of 34 shots, made an uncontested layup with 10 seconds left before Mario Elie made one of two free throws for a 93-91 San Antonio lead with 7.1 seconds left.

Iverson blew past Johnson in his attempt to tie it, but Duncan--who had five blocks--got in the way as Iverson missed a driving, one-handed shot high off the backboard.

Boston 95, Indiana 85--Dana Barros scored 13 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter at Boston as the Celtics beat Larry Bird’s Pacers for the first time.

Barros made a three-point basket with 7:54 left to break a 69-69 tie and put Boston ahead to stay. He sank two more three-pointers during the 19-4 Celtics run that gave them an 83-73 lead with 3:47 to play.

The Pacers had been 8-0 against Boston since Bird became coach in 1997.

Utah 108, Minnesota 93--Karl Malone had 34 points and 11 rebounds, and John Stockton added 12 points and 15 assists without a turnover as the Jazz beat the Timberwolves at Salt Lake City.

Malone, who scored 19 points on six-of-16 shooting in an 89-84 loss to the Timberwolves on Friday at Minneapolis, scored 23 points and had seven rebounds by halftime Monday.

Utah held Kevin Garnett, fourth in the NBA with a 26.1 scoring average, to 20 points. Terrell Brandon led the Timberwolves with 21 points.