From Sports Illustrated: Allen Iverson didn’t take his removal from Philadelphia’s starting lineup lightly, and he let everyone know how he felt about 76ers interim coach Chris Ford. “I was angry all day from the shootaround on,” Iverson said. “Going in there and having a meeting and being with some guy that I don’t really know, telling me that I wasn’t going to start and what I have to do for us to be successful … Iverson, who missed Monday’s practice and was held out of the starting lineup by Ford, led the 76ers with 27 points and a season-high 14 assists. He entered the game with 4:39 left in the first quarter and played 36 minutes overall.
“The relationship between us goes out the window,” said Iverson, the NBA’s leading scorer. “I told him why I couldn’t make it, and it wasn’t enough.” Iverson said his plane was delayed after he played in the All-Star Game in Los Angeles. “I don’t have to be his friend, I don’t have to speak to him. I can play for him, though. I can play hard for him and I can do exactly what he wants me to do, night in and night out. I definitely will do that. But as far as having a relationship with him outside of basketball, that’s done from Day One.”
Allen Iverson is proof of where never being disciplined gets you. He’s a highly paid grown man, and he’s still a petulant little boy. If he had any maturity at all, he’d know that the coach was sending a message to the rest of the players by sitting his star, who had, however inadvertantly, violated the rules. But instead of taking responsibility, Iverson prefers to whine, pout and stomp his feet publicly. He sounds like a two year old shouting “I’m mad at you!” This is one reason why I hate the NBA. In the NFL, this sort of attitude gets beaten out of the players by their second year – unless they’re Terrell Owens, of course.