Allen Iverson was practically going
like 60.


Iverson scored a career-high 58 points -- the most in the NBA
this season -- as he rallied the Philadelphia 76ers to a 112-106
overtime victory over the Houston Rockets.


In his fifth career 50-point game, Iverson scored 14 in the
final seven minutes of the fourth quarter, including two free
throws with 23 seconds left that forced overtime.


In the extra session, Iverson made a jumper, a gutsy 3-pointer
and the clinching free throws as he eclipsed his previous career
high of 54, set January 6, 2001 at Cleveland.


"I have won scoring titles, I've scored 50 points before and I
have won individual awards," Iverson said. "I haven't won a
championship and that is the only thing that I am concerned
with."


Iverson made 21-of-42 shots and 14-of-14 free throws as he fell
two points shy of becoming the 17th player in NBA history -- and
the shortest -- to score 60 points in a game.


"You know something? He has the ultimate green light," Rockets
guard Cuttino Mobley said. "It's hard to stop somebody when
he's got the ultimate green light and when (he) gets hot. He's
one of the best players in the league. Plus, he's fast as all
hell."


The NBA's scoring leader more than doubled his average of 28.2
points and established a league season high, one night after Los
Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant scored 56 points in just three
quarters vs. Memphis.


"We knew when Kobe got 56, he'd have a big game," 76ers coach
Larry Brown said. "He was incredible. He played 50 minutes.
He defended and he just played a phenomenal game."


The outburst was the most by any Sixer other than the legendary
Wilt Chamberlain. Chamberlain scored a team-record 68 points at
Chicago on December 16, 1967.


The Sixers are 3-2 when Iverson scores at least 50 points. That
does not include two playoff wins over Toronto last year.


"He is just tremendous," Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said.
"We were running guys at him. Iverson just shot it before we
could get anyone across the floor. He was winging them from all
over the place. It was a great performance."


Rookie Speedy Claxton scored 16 points for Philadelphia, which
has won five of its last seven games.


"(Claxton) was aggressive every time he received the ball in a
double-team, shot it, and didn't even think about it," Brown
said. "His defense is just incredible."


"The important thing is trying to stay consistent," Iverson
added. "That's what makes a team good. With bad teams, you
knock them off and good teams you try to knock them off. If you
don't, you give the effort and then that carries on to the next
game."