[2001 ECSF] Allen Iverson vs Vince Carter Arguably one of the greatest 7 game series

[k0kakw0rld]

Game 1:
Vince Carter: 35 points 7 assists 2 rebounds 2 blocks W
Allen Iverson: 36 points 4 assists 7 steals 8 rebounds L
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L80AfDf1WS4
Game 2:
Vince Carter: 28 points 4 assists 7 rebounds 2 blocks 2 steals L
Allen Iverson: 54 points 4 assists 5 rebounds 0 block 1 steal W
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8FLfRmvp78
Game 3:
Vince Carter: 50 points 7 assists 6 rebounds 4 blocks 1 steals W
Allen Iverson: 23 points 8 assists 4 rebounds 1 block 4 steals L
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0gohzNOjIs
Game 4:
Vince Carter: 25 points 5 assists 10 rebounds 3 blocks 1 steal L
Allen Iverson: 30 points 5 assists 4 rebounds 0 block 4 steals W
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSDmiofO8vo
Game 5:
Vince Carter: 16 points 2 assists 5 rebounds 0 block 2 steals L
Allen Iverson: 52 points 7 assists 2 rebounds 0 block 4 steals W
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6o5TfSCnP8
Game 6:
Vince Carter: 39 points 5 assists 5 rebounds 1 block 4 steals W
Allen Iverson: 20 points 4 assists 4 rebounds 0 block 0 steal L
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wILgX7UkpKc
Game 7:
Vince Carter: 20 points 9 assists 7 rebounds 2 blocks 3 steals L
Allen Iverson: 21 points 16 assists 4 rebounds 1 block 2 steals W
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSPxvDh7I5o
Overall stats: Toronto (3) vs 76ers (4)

Vince Carter: 30.4 ppg 5.6 apg 6.0 rpg 1.9 spg 2.0 bpg
Allen Iverson: 33.7 ppg 6.9 apg 4.4 rpg 3.1 spg 0.3 bpg

Sixers go on to win in 7 games...

Any other memorable 7 game series in recent memories?

[TomCat]

No because this league turned into the super friends league.

[ArbitraryWater]

Damn, that was already 5 years ago? Time flies by

[k0kakw0rld]

Damn, that was already 5 years ago? Time flies by

15 years ago to bexact

[fourkicks44]

15 years ago to bexact

Come on OP check the thread title

GREAT post though

This was a phenomenal series. Really was Vince and AI coming into their own. Supposed to be a sign of things to come; two rising powerhouse teams in the East and two superstars to lead the league into the next decade. Little did we know at the time that this would be the peak of both their careers, unfortunately for all of us.

Extremely entertaining series, though. I remember how I felt then, I was on top of the world as a Sixers' fan. Had me on the edge of my seat all seven games. Only to be topped by the equally close, exciting and infamous 2001 Eastern Conference Finals against the Bucks.

Any of you kid's that haven't seen this check it out.

Props OP

[AintNoSunshine]

What happen to 50pt Playoff games? We rarely see them anymore. And there are 3 in the same series.

[Bankaii]

What happen to 50pt Playoff games? We rarely see them anymore. And there are 3 in the same series.

Basketball is more team-oriented now.
Hero-ball/one man army is outdated and will fail in today's league.

On topic AI is the most dominant "little man" of all time. Some of his scoring performances in the playoffs that year are legendary for anyone, but even more insane when taking into account his size.

GOAT gone GOAT.

[k0kakw0rld]

Come on OP check the thread title

GREAT post though

This was a phenomenal series. Really was Vince and AI coming into their own. Supposed to be a sign of things to come; two rising powerhouse teams in the East and two superstars to lead the league into the next decade. Little did we know at the time that this would be the peak of both their careers, unfortunately for all of us.

Extremely entertaining series, though. I remember how I felt then, I was on top of the world as a Sixers' fan. Had me on the edge of my seat all seven games. Only to be topped by the equally close, exciting and infamous 2001 Eastern Conference Finals against the Bucks.

Any of you kid's that haven't seen this check it out.

Props OP

Thanks fam to remind me of my mistake

[DATBOYFLUENT]

Back when the NBA were interesting and we saw real stars vs real stars not this teaming up with your best friends to win championships that Lebron James started.

[RedBlackAttack]

You know, this got me to thinking...

The Raptors have had some good teams/players over the years. Now, don't get me wrong, they're often the EC bridesmaid and never seem to be the bride, but that franchise has shown consistency over a relateively long period of time ... basically, since the league expansion included them.




[COLOR="Purple"]The Learning Years[/COLOR]

They won 30 games in their second season which is a real accomplishment when you look at other expansion squads in their first few years. Largely, that was because of a great pick with Damon Stoudamire in the 1996 Draft, ahead of highly touted guys like Shawn Respert, Gary Trent and Ed O'Bannon, and by far the best player left on the entire board.

He only stuck with them for one more season after his Rookie of the Year campaign and the Raptors had a few years of mediocrity there, but by the 1999-00 season, they had very quickly built a really nice team behind smart decisions by the front office.




[COLOR="Purple"]Talent, talent everywhere[/COLOR]

They obviously had young Tracy McGrady and Carter just hitting his prime, but that wasn't all. They absolutely fleeced NY for a young Doug Christie.

That team won 45 games and lost in the first round, but it was obvious that something was there.

Maybe the only thing holding them from a couple Finals appearances is what happened in the following off-season. Tracy can say what he wants now, in retrospect when he talks about the crazy ceiling prime Carter and McGrady would have had in Toronto, but I remember feeling back then that the Raptors where never even in the running. He wanted to go home (Orlando) and he didn't like paying the hire taxes.




[COLOR="Purple"]Getting the most out of the situation[/COLOR]
So, the Raptors did what they could with no leverage ... tried to make the best deal possible. It turned out to be a nightmare because Orlando gave Toronto their rights to Fran Vazquez.

They didn't sit around and eventually collect on their future pick, though. They turned around and flipped Vazquez's rights to the Pistons for Eric Montross and Jerome Williams. OK, OK... that didn't turn out well either, but it is better than Vazquez, who I don't think ever even played in the NBA.

Meanwhile, they didn't sit on their hands and sulk over McGrady. That front office starts filling the roster with guys who can push their budding star Vince Carter into his first extended playoff run.

He averaged 27+ points on good efficiency that season and upped their record to 47-32 and looked like an honest to god EC contender with Carter, veteran signings like Mark Jackson, Antonio Davis, Kevin Willis and Dell Curry. Of course, it wasn't too smart in retrospect to trade Marcus Camby for Charles Oakley (although he had some good years for the Raps, but they also had a couple young project pieces in


They put out a true conference title contender in 2000-01 and no one dreamed the the Raptors franchise would be that good in such a short amount of time after its creation. This wasn't like adding a team in 1970 when there were far few teams. Toronto had to be one of the best of a field of 30, almost all of whom had a big headstart.

Anyway, that 2000-01 season is when the games highlighted in this thread happened, and the Sixers ended up being a Finals team. They fell to them in one of best Game 7s of the '00s with that infamous Vince Carter missed 20-footer at the buzzer with Philadelphia up just 1 point.



Video of "That Shot"


Had that shot gone down, who knows how things play out. I personally think they could have beaten Milwaukee in the ECF and go to The Finals. Now, they would have gotten beaten relatively handily by the Lakers, but so would every team in the league.

It did probably forever alter the way a lot of basketball fans look at Vince Carter, though. His name barely comes up when we reflect on the last couple decades. I think his name is brought up more often if it goes in, because I think he would have led a team to The Finals who had no real earthly business being that far along so soon.

To contrast it to today, the early-00s Raptors were analogous to the Timberwolves.... but only if Minnesota starts winning 45+ games this year and pushes some of the best teams in the league come playoff time.

That's the way Toronto felt at the time. It seemed like, with so much young talent, there was no ceiling.


Of course, that's why you never take for granted having truly contending teams, because just a few years later, injuries and other problems had made Carter a shell of the player he was in 2001.

They go through a few facelifts, including the brief CB3 era where they won a bunch of games for a couple seasons and made the playoffs.



[COLOR="Purple"]A franchise and fanbase used to winning more than losing[/COLOR]

And here we are again ... they may not be the favorite in the Eastern Conference, but they just played in the ECF for the first time in franchise history and they've done it in really smart ways.

A string of good draft picks with DeMare Derozen and Jonas Valanciunas accented the great move of acquiring Kyle Lowry for Gary Forbes from the Rockets.

They also signed DeMarre Carroll, Cory Joseph, Patrick Patterson ...


And now they're winning 50+ games and making trips to the ECF.


Although they haven't even made The Finals, yet alone won it, they have shown great resilience and an aptitude for building and nurturing talent for 20 years now. They just can't get over that hump where you have to almost have one or two or even three of the few superstars in the league to have any real chance of winning it.

Also a great fanbase .... One of the most devoted in the league.




When the Cavs' current run is over (which could be a while since Kyrie just turned 24, Tristan is 25 and Love is 27), the Raptors are a team I'd like to see put together a championship run. The city and the organization deserve it.

[SexSymbol]

Basketball is more team-oriented now.
Hero-ball/one man army is outdated and will fail in today's league.

On topic AI is the most dominant "little man" of all time. Some of his scoring performances in the playoffs that year are legendary for anyone, but even more insane when taking into account his size.

GOAT gone GOAT.

we also don't have nearly as much individually strong players as we had back in the day.
Players today focus too much on one side of offense, meanwhile guys like MJ, Kobe, Iverson, Tmac, Vince could punish you outside, inside and then just kill you from mid too

[Mr Feeny]

we also don't have nearly as much individually strong players as we had back in the day.
Players today focus too much on one side of offense, meanwhile guys like MJ, Kobe, Iverson, Tmac, Vince could punish you outside, inside and then just kill you from mid too

Why is Kobe in the same breath as the Jordan's of the world He's a 40% finals scorer, a 25% finals game 7 scorer and a 39% elimination game scorer. Individually, he's atleast a few tiers behind the greats

[ArbitraryWater]

Why is Kobe in the same breath as the Jordan's of the world He's a 40% finals scorer, a 25% finals game 7 scorer and a 39% elimination game scorer. Individually, he's atleast a few tiers behind the greats

and to think that guy teaches kids basketball

impressive post rba

[Mr Feeny]

and to think that guy teaches kids basketball

impressive post rba

[Bankaii]

we also don't have nearly as much individually strong players as we had back in the day.
Players today focus too much on one side of offense, meanwhile guys like MJ, Kobe, Iverson, Tmac, Vince could punish you outside, inside and then just kill you from mid too

You just can't go a day without agenda posting, can you?

The 2000s was one of the weakest eras of all time. It was a bunch of hero ball resulting in little success. 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009 all were won utilizing team ball. That's half of the decade.

The early 2000s had far less talent than in today.