by Jeff Wilson
posted April 18, 2003

Van Horn has some soreness in his foot, but says he is close to 100 percent. Jesse D Garrabrant NBAE/Getty Images

The 76ers held their first full-squad practice Friday morning at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in preparation for the first round of the 2003 NBA Playoffs. All 12 players on the playoff roster, including the on-the-mend Keith Van Horn and Derrick Coleman, participated.

“We are not a great playoff team if Keith, Monty (Williams) and D.C. can’t play,” said Head Coach Larry Brown. “I think if we would have had everybody healthy, we might have won 55 games or more. If they are able to play, and they can play up to their capabilities, it is going to be a great series.”

Van Horn returned to the line-up in the season finale against Washington after missing six games with a strained left plantar fascia. He scored 14 points in 15 minutes against the Wizards and is getting better each day.

“In terms of my ability to run and jump, it feels great,” said Van Horn, who played in the 2002 NBA Finals last season with the Nets. “I have a lot of soreness still, but I think once I get going, I can kind of forget about it … I think come Sunday, I am going to be feeling pretty good, close to 100 percent.”

The Sixers, who had lost three straight games before beating Washington 107-87, gained some much-needed momentum and confidence with all 12 players relatively healthy heading into the series with New Orleans.

“It was a good feeling because you feel like, without those two guys, we always have a shot, but with both of them in the lineup we have a better shot,” said Iverson of playing with Van Horn and Coleman once again. “ It was a good feeling just to play one game before the playoffs started with everybody on the floor. It makes you more confident when you get a win and you get a win convincingly.”

The marquee match-up will be that of the two stars, Jamal Mashburn versus Allen Iverson. Though they will not be guarding one another, each team relies on their respective star to carry the brunt of the load. Iverson is perennially one of the league’s top scorers and Mashburn has been playing extremely well of late. He has created some match-up problems for the Sixers this season.

“He’s a guy that you don’t want to give a steady diet of any one player to,” said Van Horn, one of the several players expected to contribute in slowing down Mashburn. “(We plan to) give him different looks, different feels. He’s really a great rhythm player. When he gets into a rhythm, he’s tough to stop. We’ll try to send as many different looks at him as possible.”

“He’s a tough match-up for us,” added Kenny Thomas, another player aiming to shut down the Hornets’ six-foot-eight star. “I think we are going to have to put somebody big on him, like Keith or myself because our small guys – he will pretty much shoot over them like he did here the last time we played them.”