Valentine's Day Special: Allen Iverson Dominates Kobe Bryant & Shaq O'Neal the Lakers (2001)

PHILADELPHIA - How do I loathe thee? Let me count the way . . . and on Valentine's Day, no less. As an eyewitness to the eyesore that was the Lakers' 112-97 walk-through versus the 76ers Wednesday night, a few rim shots rang abundantly clear: 1 - The Purple Reign has become the Purple Disdain. 2 - The only court order on the Lakers is the one needed to prevent Shaq from shucking Kobe; if body language and look-away contempt could kill . . . 3 - The ship be sinkin' (obligatory banned NBA player reference). The problem for the 32-17 Lakers isn't that they belong in group therapy; they're certainly not the first team I've covered in which the stars are at war. No, their problem is that their scorn for each other has affected the team's interest and intensity, while long ago piercing its invincibility. All you need to know about L.A.'s 15-point disgrace is this: Tyronn Lue played long enough to foul out. According to Allen Iverson and a number of his teammates, their opponents were floor-less; conspicuously lacking in communication (exempting the verbal volley between Phil Jackson and Kobe during a fourth-quarter huddle) and caring for one another. The 17 primarily unforced turnovers (six by Kobe; none after the game had gotten away from the Lakers late in the third quarter) were a testament to the above disease of me. As was an inexcusable seven-rebound disparity against a Sixer unit that was minus the injured Theo Ratliff and the steroid-sabbatical Matt Geiger. In their stead, the un-rated center parlay of Todd MacCulloch (flaunting the soft hands of a shortstop) and Nazr Mohammed (does good things every time I see him; and has been available since the summer for a late-round No. 1 pick) came exceedingly close to neutralizing Shaq. The Sixer free agents-to-be combined for a double-double (20 points, 10 rebounds), while the uninspired Shaq went for 29 and 11 in 36 minutes. Meanwhile, Iverson (40 points, nine assists, four rebounds, three steals) took Kobe to a school he never attended. Well on his way to holding his second straight opponent to double his scoring average (Stephon Marbury blistered him for most of his 50 the previous night in Jersey), Kobe, in a humane gesture by Jackson, was allowed to switch defensive assignments after one period; at which time Iverson already had drilled him for 13 points. Factoid: The Sixers are now 8-3 this season in games where Iverson scores 40-plus points, whereas the Lakers are 0-1 in games where Lue commits six-plus fouls. This was a game after NBA All Star 2001