| 08 December 2009
It was Allen Iverson’s 698th game as a Philadelphia 76ers but it might as well have been his first. Actually, that’s not correct.
In his first game as a 76er, he was a 21-year old anomaly who scored 30 points on 12/19 shooting. He was thrilling. He was dynamic. He was essentially rubbing to sticks together as he attempted to set the basketball world on fire.
Monday night, while there was a similar level of energy in Philadelphia with his return to the city that started his Hall of Fame career, it was a different kind of energy. It was a respectful energy. It was a “glad to have you home, you should change into some sweats and enjoy some cocoa and this game of Pictionary around the fire” kind of energy.
Sure, it’s just one game back and there is plenty of time to get the rust off but you can’t help but look at how slow Allen Iverson looked out there. He hadn’t played in a month; back in the Kings first home game of the NBA season (against the Grizzlies in Iverson’s debut with Memphis), he didn’t look this slow. He was able to dart through the Kings defense and score quickly and effectively against Beno Udrih. However, Monday night against the Nuggets, this wasn’t the case at all.
Chauncey Billups held Allen Iverson in check. Not only was he held in check by Billups, he was bothered by Earl Smith (SOMEONE has to call him Earl), Arron Afflalo and Ty Lawson. He was out-quicked and out-muscled by everyone younger on the court. He wasn’t the savior for a struggling Sixers team – at least he wasn’t after the first night. He scored 11 points on 11 shots in 38 minutes of play. The only other time he had such an unproductive game for the 76ers was in early 1998 when he scored six points on 11 shots in 41 minutes of play. Other than that, he’s never been so “useless.”
Will he be this bad every night? Not a chance. He’ll find a way like all fading veterans do. His coach will find a way to make him a weapon with this current makeup of superior athletes. They’ll find a way to free him up on the perimeter to drop his patented jumper.
But it’s obviously never going to be the same.
And I don’t think the majority of Sixers fans, if any of them, expected things to be the same. Maybe they hoped he would come out with that same fire set the world ablaze. Hell, I hoped he would come out with that same fire. But instead, we saw a more reserved Iverson. He was forcing the issue but it was with his passing and not his scoring. He overly tried to convince everyone that he wouldn’t be hogging all of the shots and holding the young teammates hostage on offense. He was going to keep the ball moving. It was a lot like the first game he played for the Nuggets.
When the fourth quarter came in a game the 76ers let slip away, he didn’t fire up a single shot or get to the free throw line once. Other than an assist to Elton Brand for a jumper, he was an absolute afterthought in an 18-point quarter that saw a two-point lead turn into a ten-point loss. The next game will probably be different. And the one after that. And the one after that too. The Sixers need it to be. If he doesn’t find a way to be the hybrid of the passer he was tonight and the bludgeoner we saw for a decade-plus then Philadelphia needs him to screw the team-first mentality and put the team on his back.
This is a bad 76ers team. This is a team in which Andre Iguodala is the best player on the team. For those of you that don’t live in the fantasy sports world, you know that this makes them a team not likely to succeed.
So we need one more lit match from Iverson and for him to flick it towards the brush.
(Photo by David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images)
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