It might have started off that way, but in the end it simply was not Allen Iverson?s day.  Iverson, scoring 15 points in the opening quarter, finished the game out with 20 as the Boston Celtics   As Iverson faltered in his first game back in over a month so did the Sixers, eventually going down 92-82 at the Fleet Center in the opening game of the series.

''If you think you can just step back in after being out a month with no games and no practices, you're kidding yourself,'' the Sixers' Eric Snow said.

''It was a miracle he was out there at all,'' his coach Larry Brown added.

The good news for Iverson and Philadelphia fans is that Iverson will have three days to rest before having to go back at it.

''I just missed shots,'' he said, shrugging. ''I took a couple bad shots, but, for the most part, I took shots I thought I could make. They just didn't go in. That's the way the game goes sometimes.''