"Hard as hell."

That was the way Allen Iverson described the degree of difficulty in Kobe Bryant's scoring 62 points Tuesday night against the Dallas Mavericks.

How about doing it in three quarters?

"You gotta be a bad joker," Iverson replied.

The 76ers star guard was the logical one to ask yesterday, because, before Bryant, he was the last NBA player to reach 60, doing it Feb. 12 of last season against the Orlando Magic.

A.I.'s eyes were glued to set as Kobe scored 62

By PHIL JASNER
jasnerp@phillynews.com

"Hard as hell."

That was the way Allen Iverson described the degree of difficulty in Kobe Bryant's scoring 62 points Tuesday night against the Dallas Mavericks.

How about doing it in three quarters?

"You gotta be a bad joker," Iverson replied.

The 76ers star guard was the logical one to ask yesterday, because, before Bryant, he was the last NBA player to reach 60, doing it Feb. 12 of last season against the Orlando Magic.

"I had my popcorn just like probably everybody else. I was watching, and I was actually calling people up on the phone to make sure they were watching it, 'cause I watched the game from beginning to end," Iverson said.

"It's like, when you see a game like that, you're so much a fan of the game you enjoy it just [as if] you don't play the game. Just to see him do those things... I was thinking every shot he was taking was going to go in. It was just fun to watch.

"Certain games are not that interesting, but when you have marquee players playing a certain game, one of those guys explodes. That was a treat for everybody."

Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks said he never had witnessed a 60-point performance.

"I imagine it would be extremely hard," he said. "I can't imagine scoring 60. I would think you would go double [him], take the ball out of his hands. I don't know what I'd do if a guy was scoring that many.

"It's kind of unheard of. MJ [Michael Jordan] had 63 in overtime; Wilt had how many?" Cheeks asked.

Told the late Wilt Chamberlain's best was an all-time-record 100, Cheeks just laughed, as if to acknowledge that as being in a totally different category.

"I can't fathom scoring that many points," Cheeks said, recalling that his own career high was 33. "I would imagine it was not just on one guy, but on several guys. A guy like Kobe or anyone getting in a zone like that... I don't know if there's anything anyone can do [defensively], except double him coming up the floor, take the ball out of his hands."

Bryant became the 19th different player to crack 60. It has been done 55 times, with Chamberlain accounting for 32 of those performances, including the incredible 100 Feb. 2, 1962, against the New York Knicks in Hershey.

Iverson got his 60 by shooting 17-for-36 from the floor and 24-for-27 from the foul line. Bryant shot 18-for-31 and 22-for-25.

Hunter sidelined

The Sixers were without backup big man Steven Hunter last night, sidelined by a staph infection in his lower left leg.

"Maybe there's something in the water in Philadelphia," Hunter said, laughing.