Kendall Gill's top 10 toughest players to guard: No. 8 Allen Iverson

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No. 8: Allen Iverson

Iverson—who is 25th all-time in points scored—comes in at No. 8 on Gill’s list, mostly because KG only had to guard him for a quarter or two whenever they played. Though he was only 6-feet tall, Iverson played like “he was the biggest man on the floor” according to Gill.

A.I. was an unstoppable force on offense, his combination of tight ball handling and quickness allowing him to get wherever he wanted to on the floor. He only shot 31.3 percent from the 3-point line for his career, yet maintained a ridiculous 26.7 PPG scoring average for his career on the back on a incredible career average of 8.9 FTA per game

As KG states, “he was not a shooter. He was a scorer, and could do it from anywhere on the court. His vaunted crossover was ridiculous.

“First of all, he was a great athlete. Second, his hands are huge for a guy his size. Third, his arms are really long. With all of these advantages, he could do extraordinary things for a small player.....u could never relax when he was on the floor. To use a boxing analogy, he was like @mannypacquiao.”

In the game that Gill describes in his story on Instagram, KG and A.I. had quite the battle despite not being matched up against each other the entire time. Gill finished with 29 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 6 steals and 2 blocks, while Iverson had 27 points, which included a pair of huge free throws that helped send the game to OT, where Gill’s Nets pulled out the win.

Iverson’s world-class scoring ability was evident from day one, as was his supreme level of confidence, as KG shares in his story. With three down, we have seven more players to go on Gill’s top 10 players to guard list, and we have already seen two Hall of Famers make the list, who will be next?


See the official Allen Iverson entry on Instagram here.

See entries No. 10 and No. 9 here

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