Allen Iverson 40 point games | #38 | 47pts vs Boston Celtics [2002-01-25]

Who holds the record for most points scored at the Fleet Center? "The Answer" is the answer.

Allen Iverson scored 47 points to eclipse Antoine Walker's arena mark and the Philadelphia 76ers continued their mastery of the Boston Celtics with a 106-90 victory.

"We didn't have an answer for Allen Iverson," Celtics coach Jim O'Brien said. "I mean he scored 47 points. All the shots that he makes are tough shots. There's a reason that guy was the MVP. Very, very difficult to guard him when he's hot. Just forget about it."

It was the fifth 40-plus point game of the season for Iverson, who was 16-of-31 from the field, including 4-of-8 from 3-point range, and 11-of-13 from the free throw line.

"When guys play me one-on-one, I'm able to get by them," Iverson said. "I was able to get by some guys and pull up for short jumpers because they weren't really letting me get all the way into the paint. I had to work on my short game."

Victimizing Kenny Anderson for most of his points, Iverson had 27 points on 11-of-18 shooting in the first half when Philadelphia built a 63-48 lead. He scored 13 in the third quarter, giving him his 37th career 40-point game.

"He was hitting some big shots and sometimes there's nothing that you can do," Anderson said.

Paul Pierce, Erick Strickland and Milt Palacio also took turns defending Iverson.

"He's not one of the top five players in the game for nothing," Pierce said.

"He's an MVP. He made shots, big shots and it wasn't like we weren't guarding him," Strickland said.

Walker scored 43 points for the Celtics in an April 5, 1998 game here against New Jersey. Iverson tied Walker's record with a 3-pointer with 11:02 left and broke it with a 17-foot jumper from the right side with 8:26 remaining. His final basket was a jumper from the left corner with 83 seconds remaining, giving the Sixers a 100-90 lead.

The Sixers have won the last eight meetings in the rivalry, including two this season. On Friday, Philadelphia raced to a 14-4 lead, built a 15-point halftime advantage and closed the game with 12 straight points after the Celtics made a fourth-quarter run.

"They took us out of the game early and we were chasing the whole night," O'Brien said.

Boston scored nine consecutive points and pulled within 94-90 on a basket by Anderson with 4:02 left, but failed to score the rest of the way.

"They made a hell of a run," Sixers coach Larry Brown said. "They get to 94-90 and they don't score the rest of the game. We made some huge plays."

Eric Snow hit a scoop layup with 3:33 left, Derrick Coleman converted a pair of free throws and Iverson hit his final basket to virtually close out the Celtics. Snow converted four free throws in the final 1:15.

Dikembe Mutombo had 15 points, 12 rebounds and six blocked shots for the Sixers (21-21), who moved to .500 for the first time since they were 8-8 on December 2.

Pierce led Boston with 30 points and 13 rebounds. Walker added 18 points, but was just 5-of-18 from the field.

The 76ers have not lost to the Celtics since a 93-77 setback in Boston on March 12, 2000.

Aaron McKie, Philadelphia's third-leading scorer, suffered a mild strain of his left Achilles tendon when Strickland dove into his leg while chasing a loose ball with 11:04 left in the second quarter. McKie did not return and was hobbling in the locker room afterwards, but was not using crutches.

The Sixers hit seven of their first eight shots in jumping to a 14-4 lead.

Boston put together a run of its own and pulled within 20-18 as Pierce and Walker each hit 3-pointers.

But Philadelphia reclaimed control, scoring nine straight points on a jumper and a pair of free throws by McKie, two free throws by Mutombo and a tip-in by Iverson, giving the Sixers a 29-18 lead.

Philadelphia shot 59 percent in the first quarter as Iverson scored 12.

Iverson hit a 21-foot jumper and a 3-pointer to key an 8-1 second quarter run and the Sixers led by as many as 18 on two occasions in the first half. Iverson had 15 in the quarter.

Iverson scored 13 of Philadelphia's 20 points in the third quarter.