Eric Snow admits that, with Allen Iverson back in the 76ers' lineup, perhaps he was passive in Games 1 and 2 of the first-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics. Perhaps he passed up open shots. Perhaps he tried to involve Iverson too much in the offense.

With the Sixers trailing Boston by two games to none, however, Snow on Sunday exchanged passivity for aggressiveness, and the results showed. Instead of his 4-for-25 performance of the first two games, he was a splendid 9 for 14 for a career playoff-high 23 points.

The Sixers needed every one for a 108-103 victory that forced Game 4 tomorrow night at the First Union Center.

"Maybe I was just trying to get Allen off and get our big men off, and at the same time get shots on the fly," Snow said yesterday after the Sixers had a light practice and a film session. "That's an accurate statement, but I think - no, I know - I was more aggressive [on Sunday].

"All the guys encouraged me to be more aggressive, and it's not necessarily always taking shots. It's pushing the ball up, creating, driving, and trying to get [the Celtics] to help on me, because they do help a lot."

On the Sixers' second possession Sunday, Matt Harpring got Snow the ball along the perimeter. Without hesitation - no dribble, no fake, no glance at a teammate - Snow drilled an 18-footer. With 7 minutes, 45 seconds left in the quarter, he made a tough turnaround jumper from nine feet out, and a couple of minutes later he made a 20-footer off a feed from Iverson that put the Sixers up by 19-10.

Those hoops set the tone for Snow, who insisted after Game 2 that he had not lost his confidence. His shot simply was not falling.

Snow's only bucket of the second quarter came on the last possession of the half. With a 15-2 run, the Celtics had cut the Sixers' 16-point lead to just three until Snow, a career 20.1 percent three-point shooter who was alone in the right corner, made his fourth three-pointer of the season.

In addition to his 23 points, Snow had five assists, two rebounds and a steal and committed only one turnover. He was 4 of 4 from the foul line.

"He's going to hurt us if he doesn't shoot open shots," coach Larry Brown said. "When he's open and shoots it, I always feel good. I don't like him to take shots that don't come out of our offense or when he's not open, but I never worry about him shooting an open shot, and he needed to make some to get some confidence.

In Sunday's game against the Celtics, Sixer coach Larry Brown came to the rescue of one of the players... one of the Celtics players. Phil Jasner of the Daily News reports that Brown spoke up for Boston's Paul Pierce who came close to being ejected in the fourth quarter.

With four minutes left in the game, the officials were sorting out some pushing, shoving and trash-talking by both teams. Pierce and the Sixers' Allen Iverson already had been called for a double technical. When Pierce and the Sixers' Aaron McKie got in each other's face, McKie was hit with a technical. And, as the officials were pointing toward players, it appeared Pierce might be assessed another technical, which would have meant an ejection.

And that is when Sixers coach Larry Brown, who believes dearly in the sanctity of the game, walked up the sideline and told Hollins: "Don't throw him out of the game." That was Brown's way of saying it was important to allow the players to decide the outcome of an important game. Brown said Hollins replied they had to do what was right; as it turned out, the designations remained and no one was ejected.

Asked about it yesterday, Brown said: "Let the players play."

PERHAPS SOMEWHERE way, way back in a corner of his mind, Allen Iverson might have thought he was going to the foul line to shoot two potentially franchise-altering shots.
Maybe, with 19.7 seconds left and the Sixers leading the Boston Celtics by one, Iverson considered how drastically the make-up of the 76ers might change if he missed the free throws, and the Celtics wound up sweeping their playoff series.

He wouldn't have been wrong to feel that way.

This wasn't just a playoff-saving game for the Sixers. It was bigger than that. When the Sixers walked on the court yesterday, they looked one way. Had they lost to the Celtics instead of rallying to a 108-103 victory, that would have been the last time they looked that way.

Whether Iverson acknowledged it or not, that's what was truly at stake when he stepped to the line with the Sixers clinging to a 104-103 lead against a young and hungry Boston squad.

The Sixers are a team that went from playing in the 2001 NBA Finals to winning 13 fewer regular-season games this season and struggling to even qualify for the playoffs.

The season has been a constant soap opera during which the relationship between Iverson and coach Larry Brown has unraveled to the point where it seems as bad as it was during the nuclear summer of 2000 in which Iverson was being shopped around the league.

Allen Iverson said he was not a franchise player.

He lied. Then he proved as much by dropping 42 points on the Boston Celtics yesterday afternoon. Because of this, the 76ers are still alive in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals, down two games to one.

Showing the resolve few players of this era possess, Iverson reminded everyone why he is basketball's version of Rocky Balboa - with skills.

Iverson shot 10 for 23 from the field. He displayed a level of unselfish play some thought he never would. He made sure to end matters in the Sixers' favor by scoring eight of his team's final 12 points and accentuated his performance with 19-for-20 shooting from the free-throw line.

The Sixers were on the ropes after a perfect 7-for-7 blitzkrieg from beyond the arc by Boston's Antoine Walker in the first half. They were staggered by 29 points from forward Paul Pierce.

Iverson buckled down instead of buckling under. The immediate result was another game for the Sixers, because they captured an electrifying 108-103 victory in Game 3 of this best-of-five series.

Only days ago Allen Iverson referred to himself as not being a franchise player, rather just being one of many links (albeit a big one) that allows the Philadelphia Sixers to be successful.  He has not backed off from these comments, and he did in fact go out and dominate as well as win the game as he had previously said he would.

Iverson scored 42 points, including a team record 19 of 20 free throws, as his Sixers routed the Celtics 108-103 to remain alive in the first round of their series against the Boston Celtics.

``I'm the captain, that's what I am. Don't get into that `franchise' stuff. All my teammates are franchise players - and why not? I don't put myself above nobody on my squad. I'm a teammate, I'm a player on the 76ers team, it's as simple as that. But I do feel like I'm the best player, and there's a responsibility that comes with that.''

``There's always going to be controversy in this world. This is my life. This is what I've been going through since I've been in the league. I'm kind of used to it. We lose a couple of games and everybody points the finger at me. And when we win games, I get the praise. You just accept that and don't cry about it. I understand that's the way it's going to be.''

After the Philadelphia Sixers went to the NBA Finals last season before being beaten four games to one by the Champion Los Angeles Lakers they dismantled their team.  Starters Tyrone Hill was sent to the Cleveland Cavaliers and George Lynch was sent to the Charlotte Hornets, the Sixers receiving Matt Harpring and Derrick Coleman in return.

To say this season has not gone to plan is an understatement, the Sixers starting out missing their top three players to injury and never truly recovering.  And now as campaign 2002 continues to roll it might be three and out in the opening round for the reigning Eastern Conference Champs, the team facing a 0-2 deficit at the hands of the Boston Celtics.

Not surprisingly the Allen Iverson-Larry Brown love relationship has once again derailed, Brown saying to reporters "I think their star players are thinking about winning the game and not dominating the game" after the Game 2 loss Thursday.  It was a clear dig at Iverson, who was 11 for 30 in the game finishing with 29 points.  He is shooting 15 of 45 in the series with 49 points.

When asked about Brown's comment yesterday Iverson replied: "You have to ask him. I don't know why he would want to think that I don't want to win. I want to be dominant and I want to win. You should've asked him, did he feel like I want to win? Because he'll tell you I want to do both. And if he doesn't tell you I want to do both, then obviously the time he's been around me I didn't show him that. And I don't think that's the case."

"I think I'd rather have him say he wants to win and then dominate," responded Brown. "I have no problem with Allen. He got a problem with me, that's his problem."

The two met after practice in an attempt to smooth things over, but not before Iverson have his longest interview of the season to the media and clearly sounded frustrated.  Iverson told reporters that he didn?t feel as though he was a franchise player then sounded off about the negative focus of news these days.

"I'm just not," he said. "I know I'm not. . .I've felt like this for a long time. It doesn't have anything to do even with this season. I know I'm not a franchise player on this squad. My teammates look at me that way, definitely, and probably the fans in Philadelphia feel the same way, but I don't care about being a franchise player or anything like that. I want to be a basketball player and just contribute to this team and just do what I can, do the best that I can. And that's the only thing I can ask out of myself, is just try to do the best I can. If it works, then that's good. If it doesn't, then I still can look in the mirror and say I tried."

"It's not about me, it's not about just me," Iverson said. "It's about my team as a whole. It's about the whole organization. It doesn't have anything to do with just me, so don't blow everything up because I make one comment and then try to keep feeding off that one thing. I said it and it's over with. I just feel like [I'm not a franchise player]. It's no big thing. . .?

"I'm not bleeped off with the organization, I'm not bleeped off with my teammates or anybody. It's no big deal. I made a comment and that's that. Don't keep trying to go with something that doesn't mean anything.?

"One little comment about a franchise player, or Allen said this or Coach said that, it makes the whole world and the whole Philadelphia think there is some turmoil within this organization. Negativity is the thing that sells."

"You know, that's why this world is messed up. That's why people fly airplanes into buildings, rape women and child molest little kids. The world is so negative. Instead of talking about something good, you would rather put the bad stuff in there.?

"It's a negative world. You just try to fight off the negativity as much as you can. I've been here six years and these people been crushing me as long as I've been here. But every time I fall down, I get right back up."

Using Seattle's series against San Antonio as an example, 76ers coach Larry Brown stressed that, so quickly, momentum in a five-game playoff series can shift. Stealing a game on your opponent's home court is the key.

The Sixers almost did that last night.

With a 14-2 run in the fourth quarter, including 10 consecutive points by Aaron McKie, they erased a nine-point Boston lead to pull ahead, 75-71. The Celtics, so confident through the first three quarters, looked cooked.

Even the Sixers thought Game 2 was theirs. They thought they would escape the FleetCenter with a 1-1 tie in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series, go home and win two games, and that would be that. On to the next round.

But with a vicious swing of momentum, the Celtics used a 16-4 run to beat the Sixers, 93-85, and take a two-games-to-none advantage. Now, the Sixers, like the Flyers, are facing elimination in their next game, Sunday at the First Union Center.

The only thing left for the 76ers to do now is to hope the Boston Celtics find some way to lose this series.
The Sixers made their adjustments. They got the type of game they wanted. They had the Celtics just where they wanted them.

Less than 5 minutes left, a four-point lead and all the pressure sitting squarely on Boston's shoulders. The Sixers couldn't have scripted a better late-game scenario. This was exactly the way they made their run to last year's NBA Finals. And this was exactly the way they were going to have to do things if they were going to make a return trip.

But a funny thing happened on the way to getting back into this series.

It was the playoff-novice Celtics, not the veteran Sixers, who showed the poise and savvy to pull out a down-and-dirty scrum to the finish. It wasn't just that Boston won, 93-85, last night at the FleetCenter, all but assuring that the Sixers' reign as Eastern Conference champions will be the shortest one possible. It was how the Celtics won.

In the last 3 1/2 minutes, from defensive stops to big baskets to clutch free throw shooting, Boston won the way the Sixers used to win.

"It was our game to win," Sixers coach Larry Brown said. "But the bottom line is they made the plays and we didn't. They got the stops. We didn't. They stepped to the line and made free throws. They got a couple of key defensive rebounds. They just did things that good teams are supposed to do. They're not playing like this is their first experience in the playoffs."

What is happening in Philly these days?  Allen Iverson, after missing one month with an injured right hand, told reporters yesterday that he had practiced.  This announcement by ?the Answer? came after the public relations staff had told the media that Iverson sat out practice because he was sick.  When told that senior director of communications Karen Frascona was the source of the information, he called her a "damn liar", stating that he did in fact practice but didn?t encounter any contact on his hand.

However in an article in the Boston Herald Iverson told reporter George Kimball that he did not participate, with Coach Larry Brown adding that Iverson had ?a sinus infection?.  ``I was feeling this way before the last game.  It must be something in the air in Boston,'' said Iverson.

So did Iverson practice or didn?t he, that still has not been answered.  "I practiced, I just didn't do any contact,'' Iverson insisted.  Iverson "ran up and down a few times?' said Brown.

"He practiced a little while. He was sick. He had. . .I guess it's this altitude [that] caused his sinuses to dry up,?' Brown added later.  Still another time Brown said  "Allen missed most of the practice. He had a sinus infection.''  It is enough to make a grown man dizzy!

John Smallwood of the Philadelphia Daily News writes that Iverson has a well-known distain for practice, and with the Sixers biggest game of the season scheduled to take place today in Boston Iverson may have hurt the team.  Brown said that his team has not had much time playing together during the season due to injuries now misses some much-needed unity time.  "We basically have a new team, 'cause so many guys have been in and out of the lineup so much we don't have any continuity," said Brown.

?I don't question any of Iverson's injuries, but as far as getting out of practice, he has milked each injury for as much as it possibly could be worth.  His injuries have given him the perfect excuse to sit out practice any time he wanted. And he has done that often,? writes Smallwood.

The Sixers looked completely disorganized in their loss to Boston in Game 1, and one would think that they would practice together as much as the could during their three day break to try to correct the ship.  Having Iverson back in the opening game after one month on the sidelines and without him practicing certainly took it?s toll on the team, but have the Sixers done enough to rectify this situation?

"It doesn't help when anybody misses practice with illness or injury; that's what happened to us all year,'' Brown said. "It's like coaching an All-Star team. It's important for everybody, not just Allen. When Allen's not out there, his cardio [cardiovascular conditioning] is affected. When you've missed a month. . .we need everybody out there so we can become a team. We have a big challenge ahead of us.''

"We're all right,? said Iverson.  ?We just lost a game. . .we know we can beat this team. I'm cool. My hand is fine. I don't have any problems. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to just put on a better performance than I did last time. I'm all about bouncing back. When I struggle, I'm looking forward to the next game so I can just try to get it done, to help my teammates the best way I can.''

?Will he or will he not? ,? writes Phil Jasner. ?That is the next question.?

Ashley McGeachy-Fox of the Inquirer reports that the Sixers are hard at work on solving the Celtics. In three lengthy practices this week, Larry Brown has provided ways the Sixers can avenge their 92-82 loss in Game 1 of this best-of-five series. Drive and dish to an open shooter to break the Celtics' zone. Have Dikembe Mutombo and Derrick Coleman dominate defensively. Match Boston's energy and intensity, and do it early. Move the ball. Make shots. Defend against Paul Pierce.

And perhaps most important, Brown wants the Sixers to play well early. A series of early victories would help the Sixers' collective confidence, which was shaken by that Game 1 loss.

"I like my team," Brown said. "These guys have always responded well to challenges, and we have a big challenge ahead of us because we're playing against a team that's played great all year, and was tremendous against us the other day. I expect them to play the same way, so we're going to have to bring our A game."