First-year head coach, Randy Ayers, earned his first career win, as the Sixers defeated the heat in the season opener against Miami. After dropping the first two road games of the year, Glenn Robinson made his 76ers debut and helped the team earn its first road win of the year over Portland. However, a left ankle sprain would sideline Robinson for the next month.
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Allen Iverson earned Easter Conference Player of the Week honors for the week ending on Nov.16, helping the Sixers post a 2-1 record that included a 36-point, 12-assist performance in a win over defending champion San Antonio Spurs. Philadelphia dropped four of their next six games, but bounced back with a victory over the Detroit Pistons in Larry Brown's first return to Philadelphia. Iverson finished November with his sixth career 50-point performance against Atlanta, as the Sixers evened their record at 9-9. Forward Marc Jackson suffered an injury in a loss to Toronto that would force him to miss the next 46 games.
The Sixers bounced back with a three-game win streak to put them in first place of the Atlantic Division, but without their leading scorer, Iverson, the Sixers lost momentum and eight out of the next ten games, falling to 14-18 by the end of December. However, the team showed potential. During a six-game stretch, Aaron McKie posted three 20-point games. In the Sixers loss at Boston, rookie Kyle Korver connected on 5-of-5 from three-point range for a career-high 18 points, tying a franchise record for three-point field goal percentage in a single-game. After losing the first two games of the New Year, Iverson's return sparked wins in three out of the next four games, improving the Sixers' season record to 18-20. On Jan. 14, the Sixers erased a 15-point forth quarter deficit at Dallas to force overtime, but the Mavericks held on and won in double-overtime. In the losing effort, two Sixers players - Robinson and Iverson - scored 30 points or more for the first time since April 1, 1998. Additionally, center Samuel Dalembert recorded a career-high with 24 points, adding 16 rebounds and four blocks. After dropping seven of their next eight games, Philadelphia fell to 19-27 on the year, marking the first time in which Philadelphia had been eight games under .500 since the end of the 1997-98 season. The struggles continued, as Iverson's career-best streak of 51-consectutive games with at least one steal came to an end in the Sixers' loss to Memphis on Jan. 17. On Jan. 23, in a loss to Orlando, Iverson became the 10th-fastest player in NBA history to reach the 14,000-career point plateau. The Sixers dropped four of the first five games in February. However, in a win over the Lakers, Robinson became the 12th active player with 14,000 career points. On Feb. 10, 76ers President and General Manager, Billy King, announced that Chris Ford would serve as Interim Head Coach for the remainder of the season. In Ford's first game, the Sixers easily defeated Washington 113-88 and entered the All-Star break with a 22-31 record. Iverson became the first Sixers player since Julius Erving to start in five-consecutive All-Star games. Kyle Korver was the first rookie ever to participate in the Three-Point Shootout. The 76ers lost seven of their next nine games, but turned around with a four-game win streak, the longest of the season. During the streak, the Sixers staged their largest comeback of the season, erasing a 20-point deficit to defeat Milwaukee. In a double-overtime victory over divisional rival, New York, forward Kenny Thomas became the first 76ers player to have 10-straight double-doubles, since Charles Barkley during the 1989-90 season. The Sixers lost the next four games, but managed to win four of the final five games in March, extending their season-best seven-game home win streak. On March 30, King announced that Iverson would miss the remainder of the regular season due to injury. With Robinson sidelined since March 6, the Sixers were without their top-two scorers for the final 12 games of the season.
The Sixers managed just one win in their final seven outings of the regular season. However, the injuries allowed other players to gain valuable game experience. On April 1, Dalembert had a career-high 19 rebounds and, on April 3, he was one blocked shot shy of tying a franchise record and recording his first career triple-double. Philadelphia posted its only April win at Atlanta, as Willie Green led the Sixers with a career-high 26 points, the most points scored by a Sixers rookie since Tim Thomas scored 27 points in 1998. Dalembert posted his career-best fourth-straight double-double with 18 points and 18 rebounds against the Hawks. The Sixers, who lost their final four games of the season, were officially eliminated from playoff contention following a loss at New Jersey on April 11. The Sixers closed out the season with a loss at Orlando, completing the season with a 33-49 record. Dalembert ended the season on a streak of 17-straight games with at least one blocked shot and completed the season with 189 blocks, which ranked him sixth in total blocks in the NBA and seventh on the Sixers all-time single-season record books. Ford guided the Sixers to a 12-18 record, as injuries took a toll on the Sixers lineup. Philadelphia was forced to use 25 different starting lineups and Sixers' players missed a league-high 350 games. This is the second deepest and biggest team in the Conference, with players like Willie Green, Glenn Robinson, Samuel Dalembert, Brian Skinner and Corliss Williamson coming off the bench. However, this team may be too deep and trying to find minutes and shots for all of these players will be difficult, particularly with Allen "Me, Myself and" Iverson running the point. With too many mouths to feed, no true point guard and a lack of an offensive presence in the post, the 76ers are likely to fall short of seriously contending for the Conference title.