Iverson

"I don't know what to say," said Iverson, choking back tears. "All I know is, this is all I got out of the new rules -- this and getting called for palming a whole lot. People said the new rules are supposed to help guys with games like mine. This is all I got out of it, a whole bunch of injuries."

Iverson, taking issue with new rules that were supposed to limit defenders on the perimeter, believes he was hurt in the second quarter when he took the worst of several hard falls.

	The Main Man
	Allen Iverson scored 369 of the 76ers' 1,114 points through 12 games, accounting for 33.1 percent of their scoring.

"It might have happened on a loose ball, when a guy went up under my leg," Iverson said. "But I hurt my ribs, too, so I was worried about that."

He continued to play, however, and even had a chance to tie the score at 93 in the final seconds. But Tim Duncan got in his way on a driving layup as Iverson missed a one-handed shot high off the glass.

	“	The soonest he would be able to get back to playing basketball would be three weeks. ... I would think the maximum for Allen would be six weeks. I'd be very surprised if it took that long.”
		— Dr. Jack McPhilemy

"The soonest he would be able to get back to playing basketball would be three weeks," McPhilemy said. "... I would think the maximum for Allen would be six weeks. I'd be very surprised if it took that long."

Iverson, leading the league with a 30.8 scoring average, has missed only 10 games in three-plus seasons since the Sixers drafted him No. 1 in 1996.

"It's a killer," Sixers coach Larry Brown said of the injury. "He's playing great. He's a major part of our team. It's pretty devastating."

The 76ers fell to 5-7 with the loss to the Spurs. They have numerous other injuries, with center Matt Geiger out until December following arthroscopic knee surgery. Theo Ratliff, who recently returned from a stress fracture in his left leg, was 1-for-11 with two points and four rebounds against the Spurs and didn't practice Tuesday.