The Sixers' unexpected trip to the 2001 Finals

NO TEAM HAS ever captured our hearts the way the 2000-01 Sixers did.

Heck, the Daily News ran the Sixers on the front page for 32 straight days.

With one superstar and a roster full of role players who would run through a brick wall for coach Larry Brown, the 76ers started the season 10-0, were 42-14 at the All-Star break, 56-26 overall and reached the NBA Finals.

And in Game 1 of the Finals, when Allen Iverson defiantly stepped over a fallen Tyronn Lue after hitting a long, step-back two-pointer that capped a 9-0 Sixers run en route to an overtime win, it was enough for us. Winning just the one game, when all the experts were talking a Lakers sweep, was enough.

It was a miracle that the team made it as far as it did. Once the Sixers got past the Toronto Raptors in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals, they were playing with house money.

It didn't matter that Allen Iverson, their little general, was playing with a severely sore tail bone, or that Eric Snow was hobbling on an ankle that was broken in two places, or that Aaron McKie was slowed by tendinitis in his right shoulder or that George Lynch was sidelined by a broken foot or that center Matt Geiger was never effective enough after teammate Toni Kukoc stepped on his foot and injured Geiger's knee. Their perseverance embraced us.

The NBA appreciated the team as well, honoring Iverson as the league MVP, Brown as its coach of the year, McKie as the top sixth man, and midseason addition Dikembe Mutombo as its best defender.

A strange offseason gave no indication that a run to the Finals was in the cards. The team almost traded Iverson to the Detroit Pistons, along with Geiger. But Geiger refused to accept a trade kicker and the twosome stayed in Philly. And just before the start of the season, Iverson was being lambasted for a rap CD that contained questionable lyrics. He was singing a different tune after a slap on the wrist from commissioner David Stern.

When the season began, the Sixers were considered by some to be maybe the fifth-best team in the East behind Indiana, Orlando, New York and Milwaukee.

"I like being the underdogs," Iverson told the Daily News' Phil Jasner in October 2000. "A lot of teams don't get up for you, don't take you seriously. It makes it easier for us to relax."

A relaxed team started the season 10-0, it won a club-record 13 straight road games, McKie was posting back-to-back triple-doubles and Iverson was its spark. But a setback did occur when center Theo Ratliff, who was selected for the All-Star team, suffered a wrist injury that would require surgery.

Maybe the Sixers were concerned about making a playoff run without Ratliff's defensive presence or maybe they weren't confident that Ratliff, a usually slow healer, would recover in time for the playoffs. But on the day of Ratliff's surgery, general manager Billy King decided to roll the dice and trade Ratliff, Kukoc, Nazr Mohammed and Pepe Sanchez to the Atlanta Hawks for Roshown McLeod and Mutombo.

There are those, to this day, who despise the deal. While it became obvious that Mutombo had some holes in his offensive game as big as a Louisiana swamp, he was still the defensive stopper the team needed.

However, Ratliff, a fan favorite because of his hard work and great attitude, was never the same player. He played in just three games for the Hawks the rest of that season. After the 2003-04 season, he never played in more than 63 games the rest of his career.

In the first round of the playoffs, the Sixers played their nemesis, the Indiana Pacers, in a best-of-five series. After Reggie Miller, who missed 16 of his first 20 shots, hit a game-winning three with 2.9 seconds left in Game 1, the Sixers took the next three. Iverson, who scored just 16 points in the first game, went for 45, 32 and 33 in the next three.

The Toronto Raptors were next in the Eastern Conference semifinals. It was really a showdown between Iverson and Vince Carter.

Iverson topped Carter in the first game, 36 points to 35, but the Raptors won it at the First Union Center. The Sixers tied the series as Iverson went for a club playoff-record 54 points. Carter scored 50 in Game 3 as Toronto prevailed, 102-78, holding Iverson to 23 on 7-for-22 shooting.

With Carter cooling off, the Sixers took the next two games, wining Game 5 easily, 121-88, behind Iverson's 52.

Carter kept the Raptors alive with a 39-point performance in Game 6 as Iverson went 6-for-24 .

In Game 7, both players were misfiring but Iverson had help. McKie dropped 22, Jumaine Jones chipped in 16, Mutombo yanked down 17 rebounds and Iverson, despite shooting just 8-for-27, had 16 assists.

Carter, who attended his graduation that morning at the University of North Carolina, had a shot to win it. But his 21-foot jumper at the buzzer went in and out and the Sixers escaped, 88-87.

The Milwaukee Bucks and their Big Three - Ray Allen, Glenn Robinson and Sam Cassel - were waiting in the Eastern Conference finals. The Sixers took the opener, but lost Game 2 at home as a battered Iverson was 5-for-26 from the field, scoring just 16 points.

The Sixers rested Iverson in Game 3, which they lost, 80-74. Iverson and the team recovered to win Game 4 and won the fifth game despite a 5-for-27 outing by Iverson. The Sixers were getting blown out in Game 6, down 29 at the half. But Iverson refused to let the team give up. He scored 26 of the Sixers' 46 points in the fourth quarter to finish with 46 himself.

In Game 7, Iverson didn't let up, scoring another 44 points with seven assists in a 108-91 win. Mutombo was also a force, with 23 points, 19 rebounds and seven blocks.

It was off to LA, where fate wouldn't be so kind.

But when you look back on the 2000-01 Sixers, it was all about the journey and not the destination.