PHILADELPHIA — During the Big3 basketball event in Philadelphia on Sunday, fans waited through three games of three-on-three basketball before they got what they wanted. Sort of.
Allen Iverson walked onto the court, but not as the player and coach of 3’s Company as the crowd hoping to see him shoot had hoped. Instead, roughly 30 minutes before the first of four games began, Iverson took to his Instagram account to announce that he wouldn’t be playing because of advice from his doctor.
Still, the crowd erupted when they saw the man who captivated the NBA and its fans for much of the early 2000s.
But by late in the first half of the game he was coaching, fans wanted more of the former 76ers great.
“We want A.I.” the crowd chanted. Their wish was not granted
Later, many fans cleared out, leaving the arena nearly empty by the time 3’s Company succumbed 51-44 to Tri-State, coached by Julius ‘Dr. J’ Erving.
Things got even stranger when Iverson declined to talk to the media after the game.
Iverson is perhaps the Big3’s most notable player. Celebrities who attended in hopes of seeing Iverson’s return to Philadelphia included LL Cool J, Fat Joe, and ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, who covered Iverson’s 10-year tenure with the 76ers when he worked for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“Where’s Iverson’s room?” Smith asked someone between games. “I’ll find it.”
Former NBA player and Big3 coach Gary Payton said Iverson is “a great person. It’s better for us to see him in the locker room, and interact with him like that.”
During Tri-State’s press conference, the last of the day, Bonzi Wells said he was as surprised as the fans that Iverson wouldn’t play.
“I found out when you found out,” Wells said. “We understand what it is. He’s a guy who drives our league. This was about the fans.”