Theo Ratliff

Rare footage: Allen Iverson FULL Highlights vs Shaq & Kobe the Lakers 99/00 NBA

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• published: 05 Oct 2015
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Shaquille O'Neal won his personal battle with Allen Iverson for the league lead in scoring and won the war as well, propelling the Los Angeles Lakers to a 100-88 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. The Lakers' 7-1 All-Star center entered the contest two-tenths of a point behind Iverson for the NBA scoring lead. He outscored the 76ers' All-Star shooting guard, 37-15, and grabbed 14 rebounds as Los Angeles cruised to its eighth straight win, 13th in a row at home and 27th in 28 contests. "I used to be the beast of the East, but now I'm the great test of the West," O'Neal said. "Every team brings their `A' game to us. I wanted to come out and be very active. We tried to make Iverson and those guys drive on us and we tried to meet them at midpoint, so I got a couple of blocks." "It's hard to beat that team when Shaq's playing like that," Iverson said. "When he's playing like that, it's hard for anyone to beat these guys." O'Neal hit 17-of-28 shots, handed out five assists and added a season-high eight blocks, continuing his runaway campaign for league Most Valuable Player honors and making the Lakers look like the team to beat for the NBA title. "I'm not worried about individual accolades," O'Neal said. "If you guys vote me for the (MVP) award, thanks, and if you don't, I understand. I'm focused on bigger and better things." Iverson finished 6-of-20 from the field in 37 minutes and was reportedly hobbled by an injured toe. Matt Geiger scored 20 points for the Sixers, who have dropped two straight since a season-high seven-game winning streak. "I'm not as quick as I want to be because I'm having trouble with this toe," Iverson said. "It's kind of hard to push off on my drives so it's kind of limited my drives. It's tough on me to play this way." Los Angeles swept the two-game season series. Ron Harper scored 16 points and Rick Fox added 13 off the bench for the Lakers, who shot 53 percent (42-of-79) and held a 50-38 rebounding edge. Kobe Bryant had 10 points, nine rebounds and five assists for Los Angeles, which overcame 20 turnovers. A.C Green had 11 points and nine boards for the Lakers, who held a 51-46 halftime advantage. O'Neal scored 24 of his points after intermission and seemed to take over the contest, making an eight-foot hook shot, a short jumper, another hook, two free throws and a layup to make it 70-63 with 3:56 left in the third quarter. "I've been watching (O'Neal) and he's been great every game at both ends of the court," Philadelphia coach Larry Brown said. "He doesn't care about scoring and he gets everybody involved. He doesn't have an ego at all other than to try and win and they've got a lot of complimentary players that are just doing a great job." He had a spectacular sequence at the start of the fourth quarter when he hit a six-foot hook, blocked Tyrone Hill's shot, fed Bryant for a running jumper and made an 11-footer and a layup to extend the margin to 86-71 with 8:47 to play. Toni Kukoc scored 15 of his 19 points in the first half for Philadelphia, which shot 37.5 percent (36-of-96) and committed just nine turnovers. Eric Snow had 12 points and eight assists and Theo Ratliff added 10 poitns and 13 boards for Philadelphia, which had won three in a row against Los Angeles entering the season.