Iverson scored half of his 24 points in the decisive third quarter as the 76ers defeated the Atlanta Hawks, 94-83, for their third win in four games.
Philadelphia had lost eight of its previous 10 games and could hardly afford another defeat. The defending Eastern Conference champions open a seven-game Western Conference road trip Tuesday, making a matchup with the injury-riddled Hawks a must-win.
"We just needed a win regardless of us going on the road," Iverson said. "We'll take them as we get them. I'm looking forward to the whole trip. We have to get wins, put together some wins, before it gets too late."
 Aaron McKie takes the fadeaway jumper over Jacque Vaughn. Jesse D. Garrabrant NBAE/Getty Images |
The reigning NBA MVP nailed three consecutive 3-pointers to spark a 17-1 run, which gave Philadelphia a 73-52 cushion with 3:55 left. He also sank a pair of free throws during the spurt and capped it with a driving layup, totaling 11 points in the decisive stretch.
"We get back to within reason in the third, but we couldn't get over the hump," Atlanta coach Lon Kruger said. "Allen hit a couple of threes and widened it back. We could not make it interesting again."
The 76ers had a 78-60 advantage entering the fourth quarter and the Hawks never got within single digits thereafter.
Aaron McKie scored 17 points off the bench and Derrick Coleman had 16 and 11 rebounds as Philadelphia won for the second time in three meetings with Atlanta this season. The teams do not face each other again until March 9.
Jason Terry scored 22 points and Mark Strickland added a season-high 17 off the bench for the Hawks, who played without Emanual Davis and Dion Glover.
Davis is sidelined due to postconcussion syndrome and Glover is nursing a sore right knee.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim was throughly outplayed by Coleman and had just six points and three rebounds in 31 minutes.
The Sixers tried to blow it open in the first quarter, using an 23-6 run to build a 35-16 cushion. Iverson scored seven points in the spurt and Coleman and McKie had five apiece.
"They got off to such an explosive start that we were fighting back all night," Kruger said.
Coleman, who was sick before the game, scored nine of Philadelphia's season-high 35 points in the opening quarter.
"I just felt like I had a virus or something," Coleman said. "They asked me how I felt and I told them that I would be fine as long as I drank a lot of fluids."
The Sixers had a 37-17 lead before the Hawks responded with a 16-4 run. Strickland fueled the burst with eight points and capped it with a layup to get Atlanta within 41-33 at 4:15.
McKie scored six straight points to increase the lead, but Atlanta responded with 10 of the next 11 and got within 48-43 on a free throw by former Sixer Nazr Mohammed with 45 seconds left.
"The early deficit hurt us tonight," Terry said. "We made an adjustment in the second quarter. I guess it was a game of adjustments because in the third quarter they came out and put the dagger in us."
Philadelphia took a 50-43 halftime edge on a jumper by Matt Harpring, who scored 12 points, and Iverson took control in the third quarter.
"We definitely made it tougher on ourselves, but we found some kind of way to get a win," McKie said. "We didn't start to solve it until the second half."
Dikembe Mutumbo had 11 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks and Strickland tied a season high with 10 boards for the Sixers, who shot 44 percent (43-of-73) and held a 49-35 rebounding edge.
The Hawks shot just 39 percent (30-of-76) and lost for the ninth time in their last 13 games.