NBA commissioner David Stern and longtime former Georgetown coach John Thompson have recently expressed concern for troubled guard Allen Iverson, according to his business manager.

Stern telephoned Iverson's manager, Gary Moore, Monday and asked how Iverson was coping with the problems that have come his way.

"David was genuinely concerned for Allen," Moore said. "He asked about his daughter and his wife. He said that if Allen needed him he knows how to get him."

Thompson, Iverson's coach for two years at Georgetown, spoke with Iverson on March 7, the same day the Philadelphia Inquirer suggested Thompson reach out to him.

"Allen's personal life is at the top of his agenda right now and no thoughts about basketball will enter into his mind or thought process until he's satisfied that his personal life is in order," Moore said. "Basketball's not high on his list of priorities right now. But he hasn't mentioned anything about retirement to me."

Toney Douglas led a fourth-quarter rally that propelled the Knicks to a come-from-behind win over the Sixers at Madison Square Garden.  Douglas scored 14 of his 22 points in the final period and made two crucial steals down the stretch.

After the game, Mike D'Antoni admitted to being surprised by the clutch play of his rookie point guard.

"That was a pretty good fourth quarter, I know that much," D'Antoni said. "I didn't know he could do that. The guy has a big heart, and you can see that. He has some ice water in his veins."

D'Antoni's coaching decisions have recently come under fire from members of the media and other close observers of the team -- particularly those on RealGM's forums -- who have called his rotations into question.

Despite the Knicks' victory over Philadelphia, Friday was a difficult night for D'Antoni in this regard.  Three players who were buried on his bench for the majority of the season turned in noteworthy performances.  In addition to Douglas, Jordan Hill and Darko Milicic -- two big men whom Donnie Walsh brought in during the off-season to give the Knicks some much-needed size -- had outstanding games for their respective new teams.  

Hill registered 11 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocks for the Rockets; Milicic had 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Timberwolves.  Both players were dealt away on the trade deadline day in February, with the lottery pick Hill sacrificed to help the Knicks shed the contract of Jared Jeffries and Milicic simply dumped in a money-saving move as the former lottery pick was seeing virtually no playing time in New York.

76ers guard Lou Williams is dealing with back spasms, but he expected to be in the starting lineup on Wednesday night against the Nets.

However, Philadelphia coach Eddie Jordan held him out.

"I expected [to start]," Williams said. "I didn't see any reason ... But we've been changing up the lineup a little bit. I guess this is just another episode of us doing that, seeing if we can find some way to win."

The Philadelphia Daily News writes that Williams' comments "dripped with sarcasm."

Williams said his back has been acting up for a couple of weeks.

"I got a hold of a bad bed on the road or something," he said. "It got unbearable on Monday. I woke up [Monday] and I was fine, then I started playing on the Internet a little bit. I got up off the couch and couldn't move. I felt like a 60-year-old man. They said I was having back spasms. The chiropractor said he felt some tension."

The 76ers entered Sunday's action with the ninth-worst record in the NBA, but guard Rodney Carney says there will be no tanking.

"It's impossible," he said. "You get out there, your natural instincts are to try to compete to win the game. Rather than, 'Oh, I'll miss this shot.' No way."

Losing games would, in theory, give the 76ers a better draft pick in this June's NBA Draft.

"You hear about it, but you don't want to do it. We want to win every game we can, regardless of some higher draft pick we could get. We don't worry about that, and we don't want to think about it, either," Carney added.

Heat center Jermaine O'Neal was ejected on Sunday night after grabbing the face of 76ers center Samuel Dalembert.

O'Neal received two technicals in the third quarter, while Dalembert received one and remained in the game.

Dalembert accidentally poked O'Neal in the eye under the basket prior to the confrontation.

Philadelphia Inquirer writer Stephen A. Smith wrote in a column on Sunday about the criticism he has received for reporting on Allen Iverson's drinking and gambling issues.

"It's been a difficult week, folks! I'll just put it out there. After revealing what's been heard for years about Iverson's drinking and penchant for the casinos, I've received the kind of beatdown only Joe Frazier can relate to from the pummeling he suffered against George Foreman  decades ago," Smith wrote.

"I've been vilified and excoriated, called a turncoat and a sellout, unworthy of so much as a handshake from several members of Iverson's former team, the 76ers - the last people in need of more adversaries.

"The truth is, I deserve it. Despite the objectivity exercised while disseminating the news, it's impossible to be completely impartial about someone you've known for 14 years and are incredibly fond of despite the innumerable mistakes he's made."

The 76ers could fire coach Eddie Jordan within the next few days.

The Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that the team will decide soon whether or not to let Jordan go now or wait until after the season.

A source close to the situation claims that Bobcats coach Larry Brown advised Comcast-Spectacor chairman Ed Snider against firing Jordan during the season.

The 76ers are weighing two options.

One involves advising Jordan to play his younger guys for the remainder of the season, while the second involves firing Jordan and having an interim coach do the same while also trying to restore order.

LeBron James will be back in the lineup Friday night in Philadelphia after missing two games to heal his body.

James said he is looking forward to coming back and is glad he was able to get a week of rest.

"I'm always a guy who wants to play every game, but I think now looking back it was definitely the right decision to give the injuries I had some rest," James said. "It's not often you can look in the schedule and get a week off and only miss two games, so we took advantage of it."

During his absence, James watched NBA games on a wall of televisions in the basement of his home in Akron, Ohio.

Over the past few months, ESPN The Magazine has run a featured entitled 'Player X', where an NFL player has weighed anonymously on various issues.

In response to Stephen A. Smith's reporting that Allen Iverson has been dealing with gambling and alcohol issues, an anonymous player from the NBA has responded.

"Now, everyone in the league knows Allen has been a big partier his entire career," writes the player. "Crazy thing is, he actually drinks a lot less than he used to. I know there was talk because Allen was at some party on a night he was supposed to be playing. But right now NBA players are just talking about how they can't believe Stephen A. chose to write that column now, when Allen's partying is way, way tamer than it used to be. We all think the timing is suspicious.

"I haven't talked to Allen, so I don't know how he feels about all this. But guys around the league think Stephen A. took a cheap shot, that he kicked a man when he was down. Allen is dealing with his sick daughter and a divorce. That's the reason he's taking time away. But I guess the truth doesn't sell newspapers. Fact is, if Stephen A. really cared about him, as he says he does, he'd be going to AI's friends and family, trying to say something that way. He wouldn't be blasting him in the media."

The player also mentions that several members of the Sixers will confront Smith during his next locker room visit.

Several members of the Sixers have heard the rumors that Eddie Jordan may be fired at the end of the current season.

"It?s just tough being in a culture with a lot of losing and a lot of uncertainty," said Andre Iguodala. "As players, we have to expect that. You have good teams that change coaches out of the blue because they didn?t get over the hump and bad teams change coaches because they didn?t get where they need to go. It can happen on any level. It?s a part of the business. You have to be ready and mentally prepared for it."

Elton Brand took a more low-key approach, saying "we've heard the whispers, but we don't know what's going on with that. We just try to stay focused and get prepared to play well and win ballgames."