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The bench lost its composure in the closing minutes against the Sixers, prompted by what Rivers called a "pretty good [verbal] jab" by Allen Iverson. The players sitting on the sideline shouted back at Iverson before the referees intervened. Around the same time, Ricky Davis picked up a technical for complaining about a no-call, which prompted criticism from the ABC broadcasters. It was another teaching moment for Rivers. "Allen said something to our bench and our bench reacted," said Rivers. "You know what I told them after the game? To the victors go the spoils. Allen can say whatever he wants. He showed up. He scored 38 points and he led that team to victory. When you're the loser, shut up. That's the way I look at it. I don't mind if we wanted to fight back, but do it on the floor. Hell, 'Toine was the main one and he had clothes on. There was nothing he could do about it." Rivers added, "The refs tried to intercede like they always do. And they should. That little stuff, even though it wasn't vicious, [can become a big thing.]. One of the things I told our coaches is I don't care if it's not vicious, just get them to be quiet because anything can happen. You think about that whole Detroit thing. The incident was over and the fact that they were allowed to keep talking is what led into [it] getting ugly. So I'm very conscious of that." . . .