Iverson: A Final Curtain Call

Last week, Allen Iverson officially retired from the NBA.  It is hard to believe he will no longer compete in the NBA.  His retirement is a sure sign that nobody is invincible and that father time is undefeated.

I have been a fan of A.I. for as long as I have been a basketball fan.  My first recollection of Iverson came during 1993.  I remember watching SportsCenter and hearing about his unlikely success story.  They discussed how he was raised in poverty by a single parent and how he received a pardon from the Governor of Virginia for a very shaky criminal conviction. They also showed highlights of Iverson on the court, and he was quite frankly the fastest player I had ever seen on the court.  From that point going forward, I followed his career and even patterned my basketball game after his (that did not quite work in my favor).

If you saw Iverson in a room full of strangers, he looked unassuming.  He did not look like a basketball star.  He was not particularly tall.  He was not skinny, but he was not very muscular either.  He looked like a regular guy until you saw him on the court.    

By the time I started high school, Iverson was a legend on a national level.  However, he had long been a legend in my hometown of Winston-Salem, NC.  During his junior year of high school, he came to Winston-Salem for an AAU tournament.  He played for Boo Williams, which was a team from Virginia.  At some point that weekend, his team matched up against the Charlotte Sonics, which featured Jeff McGinnis, Jerry Stackhouse and Jeff Capel.  Legend has it that Iverson destroyed the Sonics to the tune of 40 plus points in the game.  Legend also has it that Iverson was playing up a division because he was a year younger than the other players.   Stackhouse and McGinnis were two of the best players in the Nation and this skinny kid from Virginia destroyed them.  It would not be the last time Iverson played the roll of giant killer.  

I always wondered what made Iverson such a great player.  After watching him play in hundreds of games, I am convinced that his will to win was second to none.  He always believed his team could win as long as he was on the court.  Always.  He believed he was the best player on the court, at all times. He played every game like it would be his last.  He was fearless and it was readily apparent that he really loved the game.  He had that look of sheer joy that all athletes have enjoyed at some point in life.  However, for most of us, the feeling was fleeting.  For Iverson, it was lasting.

I have so many favorite Iverson moments, but my favorite is his performance in the 2001 NBA Finals.  His team that year should not have made it to the Finals.  He truly carried that group.  During game 1 of the Finals, he put on a show.  I believe he scored 41 points that game.  Tyron Lue guarded him during parts of the game.  I think Iverson was tired of people saying Lue was the "Iverson-Stopper."  On one play, Iverson was isolated against Lue in the corner.  He made a quick dribble, then he stepped back and released a long jump shot.  In the process, Lue fell to the ground.  Iverson made the shot and stepped over, no, stomped over Lue for emphasis.  What a great moment.

I could say more, but I won't in the interest of time.  The game has lost a titan and A.I. will be missed on the court.

Peace