Larry Brown & Author Disagree on Whether or Not Allen Iverson Was Drunk During 'Practice' Rant
By Jason McIntyre
Larry Brown and Allen Iverson had a combustible father-son relationship during the point guard’s tenure in Philadelphia, with sky scraping highs – reaching the NBA Finals – and rock-bottom lows – the infamous “practice” press conference, which Brown didn’t actually attend.
Late last week, Brown was besieged with media requests after Kent Babb, the author of a new book on the iconic NBA star, “Not a Game: The Incredible Rise and Unthinkable Fall of Allen Iverson” went on a Philadelphia radio station and said the following:
"Larry Brown told me that [Iverson] disappeared and came back, was slurring, red eyes, all this stuff,” Babb told the Innes and Bruno Show on 94WIP yesterday. “If you look at the video now, especially knowing it, you could tell."
The interview was picked up heavily in Philadelphia, made the rounds on social media and the allegedly drunken press conference was mentioned by blogs.
One problem: Larry Brown never said any of that.
“That’s a total lie!” Brown told The Big Lead. “I’ve told this story to over 100 people and said it in many interviews. Allen was supposed to meet me in my office for exit interviews at 3 pm. The clock hit 3, he didn’t show up, so I go down to my car to leave. And Allen pulls up. And he’s mad at me that I’m leaving. We didn’t have a shouting match, but we had a discussion. My tone wasn’t off the charts.”
“But all he wanted me to do was tell him he wasn’t being traded. I did that. And then I never saw him again that day. So I don’t know where the ‘red eyes’ and ‘slurring’ comes from. I never said he was drunk when we spoke in the parking lot.”
But Babb didn’t actually write that in the book, he just mentioned it on the radio. When contacted by The Big Lead this week, Babb, who writes for the Washington Post, admitted he botched the radio interview. “I misspoke on the radio show. I just blew that.”
Brown and Babb have spoken since the radio interview. Babb tape recorded the interviews with Brown for the book, and the two only disagree on one item in the book: That the coach made a “drinking motion” when talking about Iverson’s legendary “practice” press conference.
Brown: “I would say 1,000 percent that I didn’t give that motion. I’ve done interviews about the events leading up to the press conference for at least 10 years now. I don’t think I’ve ever told anybody he was drunk.”
Babb: “[Brown] tipped his hand up like a bottle. It happened. I guess at this point it’s my word against his.”