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ShareNews, Notes and Quotes - Jan. 12, 2005
Each Wednesday, Sixers.com will compile news, notes and quotes from Sixers players and coaches from the week and games to give a mid-week report on the happenings on the court.
posted Jan. 12, 2005 Andre Iguodala goes for two of his career-high 22 points against Portland on Jan. 10. Jesse D. Garrabrant NBAE/Getty Images |
Andre Iguodala was averaging 6.8 points per game that last time he was mentioned in News, Notes and Quotes on Dec. 8. Since then, the former Arizona Wildcat has pushed his average to 8.9 points per game, while earning more playing time, an increase from 30.2 minutes to 32.1 minutes per game.
The only Sixers player to start every game this year, Iguodala ranks among NBA leaders in steals per game (9th, 1.70) and steals per turnover (11th, 0.95), and ranks near the top of every rookie category. He has scored a career-high 22 points twice, both against Portland (12/27 & 1/10). In that first meeting with the Trail Blazers, he posted his first career double-double by adding 10 rebounds.
Notables
Back-to-Backs
Another of the Sixers 20 sets of back-to-back games looms this coming weekend when the Sixers host Toronto on Jan. 14 and then depart for Detroit for a game on Jan. 15. Success in back-to-back situations will be paramount in crunch time at the end of the season when Philadelphia will play eight sets of back-to-back games in the final two months of the season – 16 of the final 27 games will be played as part of a back-to-back set. Here is a detailed breakdown of this season’s back-to-back sets:
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 Head Coach aired on the side of caution when he rested Allen Iverson for most of the fourth quarter against Portland on Jan. 10. Jesse D. Garrabrant NBAE/Getty Images |
Head Coach Jim O’Brien took Allen Iverson out of the Portland game on Jan. 10 at the 10:22 mark with the Sixers down 19, despite the All-Star guard's overall effort of 21 points, nine assists and nine rebounds against zero turnovers. The Sixers would only get as close as 12 the rest of the way until a Willie Green three with one second left made the final score 109-100.
After the game Iverson, who had taken a spill in the fourth quarter and had missed the previous game on Jan. 7 with a right ankle sprain and left shoulder contusion, said that he felt fine and “was ready to go back and try to finish out the war.” O’Brien admitted that he was looking after the well-being of his star player, who has been nursing injuries lately.
“We were down quite a bit, and I think when you are down by that many, the guys we put in got us back into a reasonable game, and I did not want to risk Allen with that type of deficit,” O’Brien said.
On Tuesday at a team workout, O’Brien said that he would have put Iverson back in the game if the team had come back within a “number in a certain period of time.”
“I talked to Allen today. He’s great,” O’Brien said. “He hates to lose as much as I hate to lose and he has the exact type of attitude that I like to coach. Allen wants to play 48 minutes per game. Up 40, down 40, doesn’t matter. He wants to play basketball. Well, that’s what makes him Allen Iverson.”
