Allen Iverson gives moving speech at NBA Players’ Awards

NBA legend Allen Iverson. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO/MARK GIONGCO

Allen Iverson was one of the NBA’s most polarizing figures even before LeBron James upped his notoriety when he joined the Miami Heat and formed the Heatles.

During his early years in the league, Iverson was always linked to his service in prison and his overall persona drew flak from the established figures of the league.

On Wednesday (Manila time), however, Iverson was a mere shadow of his old, notorious self as he gave a speech worthy of a life-changing book.

“The same fight, different round,” Iverson said during the National Basketball Players Association’s inaugural Players’ Awards. “This world is a world title fight. Some rounds, the rounds are days and some days you won’t get knocked down and some rounds are gonna be good, some rounds are gonna be bad. The only thing that matters is getting back up and fighting again.”

Iverson received the Game Changer Award, which he called “one of the most special awards,” in the inaugural awards the NBA players formulated as their own take on season awards.

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He gave a shout-out to Michael Jordan, regarded as the greatest NBA player of all time, wishing to God he could have been “like Mike.”

“If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be on this stage, I wouldn’t have this vision to be a basketball player so I love him for that and I honor him for that,” Iverson said.

American network BET broadcasted the taped event with Bleacher Report posting a video of Iverson’s speech on its website. IDL