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Coronavirus: We talkin' about practicing social distancing! Allen Iverson updates famous rant
Written by Sports Desk. Posted in NBA. | 08 May 2020 | 1710 Views
Tags: Basketball, Coronavirus, Nba, Philadelphia 76Ers

With 18 years having passed since Allen Iverson's famous "practice" rant, the former Philadelphia 76ers guard updated his comments to fit the modern day.

On May 7, 2002, Iverson, who was named NBA MVP in 2001 and would make 11 All-Star appearances in a Hall of Fame career, launched into a tirade when he was asked about skipping practice.

It remains one of the most iconic interactions between an NBA player and the media, and to mark the anniversary the former Sixers superstar recalled it with a slight tweak.

With the United States in the midst of combating the coronavirus pandemic, Iverson used it to attempt to remind his followers on Twitter of a key way they can help.

"We talkin about practicing social distancing!!!" he posted alongside a picture of him during his outburst.

For those unfamiliar with Iverson's initial comments, here they are:

"If a coach say I missed practice, and y'all hear it, then that's that. I might've missed one practice this year. But if somebody says, 'He doesn't come to practice' - it can be one practice, out of all the practices this year - that's enough. If I can't practice, I can't practice, man. If I'm hurt, I'm hurt. It ain't about that. It's not about that, at all.

"But it's easy to talk about, it's easy to sum it up when you just talk about practice. We sittin' in here, I'm supposed to be the franchise player, and we in here talkin' about practice. I mean listen, we talkin' about practice. Not a game, not a game, not a game. We talkin' about practice. Not a game, not the game that I go out there and die for, and play every game like it's my last. Not the game. We talkin' about practice, man. I mean how silly is that? We talkin' 'bout practice. I know I'm supposed to be there, I know I'm supposed to lead by example. I know that, and I'm not shovin' it aside, you know, like it don't mean anything. I know it's important, I do. I honestly do.

"But we talkin' about practice, man. What are we talkin' about? Practice? We talkin' about practice, man. We talk - we talkin' about practice. We talkin' about practice! We ain't talkin' about the game, we talkin' about practice, man. When you come into the arena, and you see me play, you see me play, don't you? You see me give everything I got, right? But we talkin' about practice right now. We talkin' about practice.

"Man look, I hear you, it's funny to me too. I mean, it's strange, it's strange to me too. But we talkin' about practice, man. We not even talkin' about the game, the actual game, when it matters. We talkin' about practice."