Saturday, June 9 Sixers might have lost, but not their confidence By Wayne Drehs ESPN.com LOS ANGELES -- The scoreboard might have read, "Lakers 98, Sixers 89," but Allen Iverson didn't care. Allen Iverson, left, argues with Kobe Bryant at the end of Game 2, and the conversation most likely will continue in Game 3 Sunday in Philadelphia. Walking off the floor of the Staples Center on Friday night, he hooted, hollered and clapped in hopes of inspiring his teammates for the war that lies ahead. But Lakers star Kobe Bryant took exception. Not in his building. Not in the house that Shaq built does somebody walk off the floor after a defeat and create a commotion. Bryant and Iverson exchanged words as they were walking off the floor and Derek Fisher had to play peacemaker. But the message was a simple one: Let the games begin. The series that everybody thought was a joke, the one that oddsmakers guaranteed would be finished by Game 4 on Wednesday, is now a best-of-five dogfight. And contrary to what many once believed, the Sixers don't look like they will go away easy. Just look at the game Friday. Aside from a few late-game turnovers, the Lakers played just about perfect. Kobe was on fire. Shaq got his. Fisher resurrected his play. The Lakers dominated the boards. Still, they couldn't put Philadelphia away. On a night when Allen Iverson made just 10 of 29 shots and missed all four of his free throws ... On a night the Sixers as a team shot an uncharacteristic 15-for-26 from the charity stripe ... On a night Dikembe Mutombo and Tyrone Hill flirted with foul trouble, the Sixers were down by just three with 2:20 to play. "I loved the way our team played. Our effort was unbelievable," Sixers coach Larry Brown said. "We made it a game. We scared them a little bit the way we kept fighting, the way we kept coming back." That fight was in Iverson's eyes as he walked off the floor. Though he declined to say just what he and Kobe were jawing about, Iverson did elaborate on the emotions behind his words. "It was the effort that we gave," Iverson said. "Not throwing in the towel. Knowing that a team that's supposed to dominate us, a team that's supposed to have swept us almost didn't get out of here with a win. They said we played 1,000 percent last game. I wonder what our percentage was this game." Immeasurable. The team that doesn't belong, that on paper has no business matching wits with the defending world champions, does just that. Aaron McKie, despite fracturing his ankle in Game 1 on Wednesday, logged 40 minutes, second to only Iverson's 47. On defense, he dogged Bryant. On offense, he contributed with 14 points, six rebounds and six assists. Dikembe Mutombo, despite a broken pinky, sore shoulder and a cut on his tongue that required three stitches Friday, had 16 points and 13 rebounds. And Eric Snow, also with a broken ankle, scored 12 points in 28 minutes and was the catalyst in a fourth-quarter run that brought the Sixers to just three points down. If he didn't know it already, Lakers coach Phil Jackson now realizes his seemingly unbeatable Lakers are in for dogfight. Hence the reason he called four timeouts during a frantic 15-minute stretch, an uncharacteristic trait for the typically patient head coach. "I kept telling the guys, one shot is not going to bury Philadelphia," Jackson said. "If you hit a 3-pointer, you're up 10, puts it to 13, that's not going to be enough to knock them out. They're not gonna play the scoreboard, they're gonna play the game." The message appears to be sinking in, as Bryant told Iverson after the game. "Where I was coming from is, you know, I don't care," Bryant said. "I really don't. You know, we're here, we're the world champions, and no matter how inspired your team may be, the championship has to come through the city of Los Angeles." But for the time being, it will go through Philadelphia. A three-game sweep by either team and it will all be over. Iverson said after the defeat Friday that it wouldn't surprise him if the Sixers took three in a row. "We think we can win every game against this team. It's everybody else that don't think we can," Iverson said. "But you know what? Nobody gonna just walk over the top of us. It won't happen." For the Sixers, just as important as coming to Los Angeles, winning Game 1 and stealing the home-court advantage was believing they belong on the same floor with the Lakers. That's because player for player, Philadelphia doesn't come close to matching the Lakers' talent. But collectively, they look like a well-oiled machine that does whatever it takes to win. "We leave here with a feeling in the locker room that we have a chance," Brown said. "We realize that we have the type of team that that if we play up to our best, we'll give ourselves a hell of a chance to win." Now that the Sixers believe, they want others to believe as well. Both Brown and Iverson said after the defeat Friday that the team still lacks respect. "I don't think the respect is there yet," Iverson said. "We are playing the Lakers. They did dominate all the postseason. But I don't know, it's just that I don't see the respect out there." It's the classic case of David vs. Goliath, which Brown alluded to in his series-opening press conference. When asked Friday if he still felt the same way, Brown indeed said Yes. But there was a twist. "Didn't David win?" he asked. "At least that's what my mom told me." Wayne Drehs is a staff writer at ESPN.com. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories

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