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The NBA scoring champion took his show into the playoffs Sunday and overcame a bad case of pregame jitters.

"You got anything bigger than butterflies?" Allen Iverson asked, searching for the words to describe his anxiety. "I might have had a buzzard in my stomach."

Iverson scored 30 points Sunday in the first NBA playoff game of his career as the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Orlando Magic 104-90 in the opener of their best-of-5, first-round series.

Iverson said he slept poorly and woke up hourly, beginning at 5:30 a.m., in anticipation of the team's 9 a.m. breakfast. He's always nervous before a game, but said realizing a lifelong dream of appearing in the playoffs made Sunday especially gut-wrenching.

"I heard he got 15 minutes of sleep last night. That was 15 more than I expected," Philadelphia coach Larry Brown said, adding that the third-year pro's debut didn't surprise him.

"I think he handles situations like this pretty well," the coach added. "The only thing that I worry about is when he takes an individual challenge too much. I think he realizes now that he can just play."

Iverson, who said he actually got a lot more than 15 minutes of sleep, made 12 of 29 shots and finished with seven assists, five rebounds, two steals and six turnovers in 45 minutes.

When he wasn't the answer for the 76ers, Matt Geiger was. The center scored 12 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter and led an 11-0 run that Philadelphia used to pull away for good.

Geiger also had 10 rebounds, helping the 76ers compile a whopping 57-36 edge on the boards.

Iverson struggled after scoring 18 in the opening half, missing 10 of his first 13 shots in the second half. But he held his composure and provided the basket that gave Philadelphia the lead for good midway through the fourth quarter.

"I'm still excited," said Iverson, who at 6-feet became the smallest player in league history to win a scoring title, averaging 26.8 points. "I feel like I could play another 48 minutes. The crowd was against us, but it was great just playing in that kind of atmosphere."

Penny Hardaway led Orlando with 19 points, but only three came in the second half. Nick Anderson added 18 and rookie Michael Doleac had 11.

The Magic used four different defenders -- Anderson, Hardaway, Darrell Armstrong and Matt Harpring -- on Iverson, and none of them enjoyed much success.

When Orlando tried to double-team the scoring champion, Iverson did a good job of finding Geiger and other teammates. Magic coach Chuck Daly is not sure the Magic can do much different defensively against him in Game 2 Tuesday night.

"We've done about everything. And I think that regardless of what you do, he's going to get 25 points ... He's really a genius with the basketball," Daly said.

George Lynch had 15 points and 12 rebounds for the 76ers, who won two of three regular-season meetings against Orlando, which at 21-4 had the best home record in the Eastern Conference this year.

The Magic shot only 34 percent from the field in the first two quarters, yet trailed just 50-47 at the half because they outscored the 76ers 23-6 from the foul line while attempting 31 free throws to Philadelphia's 13.

In three regular-season games against Orlando, Iverson averaged nearly 23 points a game. The Magic held him to 16 points in one game and 14 in another, although cold shooting probably was as much of a factor as Orlando's defense.

The 76ers star set the tone early with 11 first-quarter points and two assists, including a lob to Larry Hughes that the Philadelphia rookie caught up to on the baseline for a highlight-reel dunk and a 31-22 lead.

The Magic stayed close by living on the foul line, particularly in the last 6:10 of the second quarter when they trimmed four points off Philadelphia's lead despite going scoreless from the field.

Anderson's 3-pointer tied the game early in the third quarter, and the Magic went ahead briefly before the 76ers settled down to lead 70-69 going into the final period.

"They just outhustled us, plain and simple, in our own building," said Hardaway, the Magic's four-time All-Star guard. "They came in and were more aggressive on the backboards than we were, and it showed."

Notes: Once one of the toughest places in the NBA to get a ticket, Orlando Arena was not filled for Sunday's game. Attendance was announced as 15,267 -- 1,981 shy of capacity. About 3,000 tickets were available 90 minutes before tipoff ... Although the 76ers are in the playoffs for the first time since 1991, eight of the 15 players on the team had postseason experience before Sunday. Rick Mahorn, who's in his 16th season, led the way with 101 games. The other seven -- Tyrone Hill, Eric Snow, Harvey Grant, Aaron McKie, George Lynch, Matt Geiger and Theo Ratliff -- had a combined 94 games of playoff experience ... Iverson won the scoring title despite shooting just .412 from the field -- the lowest mark by a scoring champion since George Mikan shot 40.7 percent in 1949-50.

Allen Iverson scored enough points to catch Shaquille O'Neal but not enough for the Philadelphia 76ers to catch the Charlotte Hornets.

Iverson scored 39 points to take over the league scoring lead from O'Neal but the Hornets found the range in overtime and dealt the 76ers a 117-110 loss that dumped them into seventh place in the Eastern Conference.

Elden Campbell scored seven of his 18 points in overtime for the Hornets, who blew a 21-point first-half lead and needed a reverse dunk by Eddie Jones off an airball by Chucky Brown to force the extra session with 2.9 seconds left in regulation.

"We missed our free throws in the fourth quarter (5-of-9) and missed a big box-out at the end to win the game," Philadelphia coach Larry Brown said. "We talked about boxing out during the timeout. Eddie Jones was incredible for them."

"That was luck. I saw the ball was short," said Jones, who scored 28 points and did a credible job on Iverson.

Iverson had given the 76ers a 100-98 lead with a 3-pointer with 6.8 seconds to go. But he scored only four points in overtime, missing 21-of-35 shots and 7-of-16 free throws overall, as his play resembled the wild offensive game he displayed as a rookie.

"The kid is awesome," Hornets interim coach Paul Silas said. "They ran plays and set great picks for him and he made us pay."

"In overtime, they made some shots and we missed some," Iverson said. "We just didn't execute like we'd like to."

Nevertheless, Iverson is averaging 26.61 points while O'Neal, the superstar center of the Los Angeles Lakers, is at 26.47. On Wednesday, Iverson's 76ers host the Detroit Pistons and O'Neal's Lakers entertain Portland.

If the Sixers (27-22) win, they will be no lower than seventh in the East. They could finish sixth if Milwaukee (28-21) loses at New Jersey or as low as eighth if they lose and New York (26-23) defeats Miami.

"Seventh or eighth means we are still in the playoffs," said Sixers center Matt Geiger, who had 22 points and 13 rebounds but was saddled by foul trouble in trying to defend Campbell in overtime. "We played well enough to get in. ... We will just have to get started tonight with playoff basketball. It is upon us."

David Wesley had 19 points and 10 assists, Bobby Phills scored 17 points and Eldridge Recasner added 16 for Charlotte, which was eliminated from the playoff race Monday but bounced back to beat Philadelphia for the first time in three meetings this season. The Hornets scored the most points against the 76ers this season after combining for only 136 in the first two games.

"We know we're a playoff team," said Jones, who was acquired in a mid-season trade. "We may not be in the playoffs, but we know we're a playoff team."

After a 4-11 start that led to the resignation of coach Dave Cowens, Charlotte (25-24) has gone 21-13 under Silas and visits Boston on Wednesday.

"It's an important game," Silas said. "We're going to do all we can to win it. It would be nice to finish the season on a winning note."

Campbell opened the overtime scoring with a free throw to give the Hornets the lead for good and Wesley drilled a 3-pointer. Philadelphia's Aaron McKie made a jumper but Campbell responded with a nine-footer for a 106-102 lead with 2:59 to go.

Iverson made two free throws but Campbell hit another jumper. McKie's basket cut the deficit to 108-106 with 1:56 left before Phills, Campbell and Jones scored in a 38-second span to seal it at 114-106 with 43 seconds to play.

"We went to Elden a lot late in the game trying to foul Geiger out," Silas said. "He made several big shots in the overtime."

Chucky Brown scored 14 points and Campbell grabbed 11 rebounds for the Hornets, who shot 47 percent (39-of-83) from the field and made 32-of-39 free throws. Campbell and Wesley made six steals each and Jones added five and four blocks.

Rookie Larry Hughes scored 13 points and McKie and Eric Snow added 12 apiece for the Sixers, who shot 45 percent (42-of-94) and held a 48-44 rebounding edge. George Lynch grabbed eight rebounds and Snow handed out eight assists.

The Hornets shot 57 percent (12-of-21) and held the Sixers to just 27 percent (6-of-22) in the first quarter, opening a 36-16 lead. Jones scored 12 points in the period and his dunk gave Charlotte its largest lead at 49-28 with 4:09 left in the second quarter.

The Sixers closed to 58-42 at halftime and Iverson and Geiger scored nine points each in the third quarter to help cut the deficit to 77-74. Hughes' three-point play gave Philadelphia an 80-79 lead with 10:08 left in the fourth quarter.

"If we could have guven the energy we gave in the second half in the beginning of the game, we could have won this game," Brown said. "We can't expect to play this way during the playoffs."

For Allen Iverson, it was a game to forget.

With Philadelphia fighting for playoff position, Iverson hit just 2-of-17 shots from the field in his personal battle against Stephon Marbury and the 76ers fell to the New Jersey Nets, 86-79.

The 76ers (21-19) dropped into a tie with Cleveland for seventh place in the Eastern Conference, one-half game ahead of New York. The top eight teams make the playoffs, where the Sixers have not been since 1991.

Iverson finished with just six points, barely surpassing his season-low of five in an 85-80 loss to Cleveland. In that game, Iverson was benched for the final three quarters by coach Larry Brown following a sideline disagreement.

"Today, it was a case of me missing shots I normally make," Iverson said. "I just couldn't get it going. I couldn't get into any type of flow. I just had a bad game."

Despite Iverson's struggles, the 76ers rallied from a 15-point first-half deficit and took their first lead of the game, 44-43, on a short jumper by Matt Geiger with 10:50 left in the third quarter.

But Philadelphia's front line was unable to contain Keith Van Horn, who scored seven points to spark a 12-0 third-quarter run. Van Horn finished with 26 points and 12 rebounds, including 18 points in the second half.

"In the second half, I didn't have as may double-teams to deal with so I had my opportunities to score," Van Horn said.

The Sixers pulled within one on two occasions in the final period but were unable to get over the hump. Iverson missed a floater in the lane with 2:18 left and Aaron McKie blew a layup with 46 seconds to go to exacerbate Philadelphia's shooting problems.

Tyrone Hill led Philadelphia with a season-high 23 points and 13 rebounds, hitting 10-of-16 shots. But the rest of the Sixers shot just 27 percent (18-of-66) from the field.

The Nets were not much better, shooting 35 percent (30-of-86).

Although he hit just 5-of-15 shots and had seven turnovers, Marbury finished with 14 points, 10 assists and five steals and locked up Iverson, who fell decimal points behind Los Angeles Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal for the NBA scoring lead.

"I think you can't do any better job than Stephon did on Iverson," Van Horn said. "When we play defense like this we're tough to beat."

As the top point guards in the 1996 draft, Iverson and Marbury have their own personal rivalry. Iverson scored 23 points and Marbury had 18 and 12 assists in Philadelphia's 96-92 win at New Jersey 11 days ago.

Today was a different story as the Sixers appeared listless from the outset.

New Jersey scored the first eight points en route to a 29-18 lead at the end of the quarter. Kendall Gill scored eight of his 15 points in the period while Philadelphia hit just 5-of-21 shots and committed five turnovers.

"I was sick during the first three minutes of the game with the way we started in a big game like this," said Sixers coach Larry Brown.

A running jumper and a dunk by Kerry Kittles to start the second quarter helped New Jersey build its biggest lead at 33-18.

Geiger lifted the Sixers with six straight points to spark a 17-5 run, pulling them within 38-35. A layup by Geiger capped the spurt with 3:02 left in the half.

After Philadelphia moved ahead, Van Horn hit a 22-footer, scored on a dunk off a pass from Gill and sank a pair of free throws to start a 12-0 run that opened a 55-44 lead.

A dunk by Larry Hughes capped an 8-0 fourth-quarter burst and pulled the Sixers within 69-68 with 7:48 left. Van Horn answered with two free throws, a short hook and a 16-foot jumper to increase New Jersey's lead to 75-68 with 6:12 remaining.

Philadelphia fought back again. McKie, who finished with 15 points, hit an 18-foot jumper, Iverson converted a pair of free throws and Eric Snow scored on a layup to cut the deficit to 75-74 with 4:20 left.

A dunk by Scott Burrell and a pair of free throws by Van Horn gave New Jersey a 79-74 lead with 3:31 left. Marbury hit four free throws and Gill added two in the final 2:08 to seal the win.