Jamal Crawford was a rookie playing for the Chicago Bulls when Allen Iverson won the regular season MVP after single-handedly taking the Philadelphia 76ers to the 2001 NBA Finals.
Iverson led the Sixers to a 56-26 regular season record and the top seed in the Eastern Conference. He also led the league in scoring with 31.1 points — no one else on the team averaged more than 12.4 points per contest.
Jamal Crawford remembers that season well, and during his recent appearance on the Dan Patrick Show , J-Crossover talked about Iverson’s incredible run.
“He just didn’t stop; he was relentless,” Crawford recalled. “He didn’t care what he was shooting. He didn’t care. The odds were stacked against him when they beat the Lakers. And the one Lakers loss the Lakers had the whole playoff run, he was just so fearless, and he made you believe he had a chance even if you look at the team, he shouldn’t have had a chance.”
Biggest favorite in NBA Finals history
The Lakers entered the 2001 Finals as the biggest betting favorites ever recorded in an NBA championship series. Not even during the Michael Jordan era, when the Chicago Bulls won six championships in eight years, had the Las Vegas opening line been so one-sided.