Allen Iverson’s lone NBA Finals appearance ended in a 1-4 defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers in 2001. Iverson had a Herculean series, where he led the Finals in scoring at 35.6 points per game, but A.I.’s Philadelphia 76ers had no answer for Shaquille O’Neal, who dominated the Sixers.
During his recent appearance on the “Stephen A. Smith Show,” Iverson stated that if the Lakers had not had Shaq in that series, the Sixers would have absolutely won the 2001 NBA championship.
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“We ran into a juggernaut. We ran into a squad that hadn’t lost a game in the playoffs. And if we hadn’t won Game 1, they would have gone down in history arguably as the best team ever,”said Iverson.
Shaq was literally unstoppable in the 2001 NBA Finals
The 2000-01 NBA season finally saw Iverson and head coach Larry Brown on the same page, resulting in the best year of their partnership with the Sixers, who won 56 games and finished as the top seed in the Eastern Conference. However, while they took care of business in the East, the 76ers faced a rampaging defending champion Lakers team in the 2001 NBA Finals.
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The Purple & Gold entered the 2001 NBA Finals having swept their previous three playoff series. But with Iverson scoring 48 points in Game 1, Philadelphia stole the series opener in Los Angeles at 107-101. However, that was as close as A.I. would get to the Larry O’Brien trophy, as Shaq dominated from start to finish, in an absolute show of force.
O’Neal averaged 33.0 points, 15.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 3.4 blocks per game in the series, including 30 points, 12 rebounds, and four blocks while shooting 8-9 from the foul line in the all-important Game 3, where the Lakers reclaimed homecourt advantage and never looked back. Shaq went on to win his second straight Finals MVP award while his Lakers won back-to-back titles.
Related: “I’m around a lot more now” – Allen Iverson admits he and ex-wife Tawanna are back together
A.I. prevented the Lakers from making history
However, while the Lakers were victorious and Shaq earned another Finals MVP trophy in the series, O’Neal was upset with Iverson because A.I. had messed up history and prevented the Purple & Gold from accomplishing what no team had ever done before — going undefeated in the playoffs en route to winning the NBA championship.
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“I’m upset with him because he messed up history,” Shaq said in an interview. “Because the year that we were 14-1, I was so mad and upset I wanted to go 16 and 0 because there was some other stuff going on with some moneys and I was like, okay, I’m about to show you that we the best Laker team ever because I get tired of hearing that word that Laker team was better so I’m about to prove the deal. And like if we had gone 16-0, we can both say okay, Magic and Kareem ain’t go 16-0, you know what I’m saying, like that, so we underestimated him in that first game.”
As A.I. said, the Lakers could have been the best team in NBA history if they had gone perfect in that playoff run, but Iverson spoiled the party in Game 1. But more than that, the Sixers could have also been world champs if Kobe and the Lake Show had not had Shaq on their team.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Oct 9, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.