Allen Iverson is the Greatest Scorer in NBA History

Photo Credit: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/
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In the past week it has been revealed that Allen Iverson will be eligible for the 2016 Hall of Fame class. To be eligible for the Hall of Fame a player must be fully retired for at least 5 seasons. Iverson hasn't player a professional basketball game since 2011 when he played a few games in Turkey before having a calf injury. He officially announced his retirement in 2013. The debate was whether he would have to wait until 2018 to be eligible, five years after his official announcement; or would the five years since 2011 constitute as five years. In the end it was decided that he will be eligible for the class of 2016 ballot. With all this happening it's time took look back on what Iverson did best, score.

Just a few days ago I was watching NBATV. As always they had a throwback game on. The game they we showing was the 2001 Eastern Conference finals game 7 between the 76ers and the Milwaukee Bucks. The Milwaukee Bucks had a young Ray Allen and Sam Cassell to carry the scoring load. The thing is that those two together just were not enough to beat Iverson. 

While watching the game I noticed that Dikembe Mutombo would collect rebounds and do some scoring, but for the most part the team would rely on Iverson to get them a basket when needed and he always came through. Whether it was a drive into the lane, a quick jumper from the elbow or a corner three, Iverson would just not miss. Iverson ended the game with 44 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds and 2 steals. It was an incredible performance that sent his team to the NBA Finals.

So what separates him from Micheal Jordan? His size. Allen Iverson was only 6'0" and 165 pounds. He had to rely on his ball handling and basketball IQ in order to compete at the professional level. Also Iverson had to carry his team night in and night out. He never really had a supporting cast when playing with the 76ers. I'm not saying he was better than Michael Jordan, but he had a completely different situation in Philadelphia than Jordan had in Chicago. I think that if Iverson had a better supporting cast in Philadelphia he would have won one or maybe even two championships.

Iverson was a great scorer. He won the scoring title 4 times throughout the course of his career. Allen Iverson left the NBA too early. In 2008- 2009 he was still capable of having 20 point nights. In fact he really didn't fall under 20 points per game until Rodney Stuckey stepped in and started taking up most of the playing time. Iverson ended his career with a scoring average of 26.6 points per game. Good enough for 7 on the NBA all time points per game list.