The Philadelphia 76ers have turned to Allen Iverson and asked him to bring back the screaming throngs of crazy fans that once walked the aisles. Allen can do it too, but at what cost you may ask. Yes, there is always a cost with the taking on of one of the most mercurial stars to walk the planet.

Coach Eddie Jordan calls Allen Iverson charming and uses his ears to hear what his mind would love to hear. Allen is the master at delivering what you want to hear, just ask the venerable Joe Dumars. He was fooled by Allen, thinking Allen had grown up and would fit into the Pistons defensive based system and add speed and life that was sorely needed. Ok, even NBAObsessed wanted him to succeed as a Piston.

Allen Iverson goes back to Philadelphia

Memphis grew tired of his act much sooner than the Pistons. The Pistons grew tired of his act much sooner than the Nuggets. Now he goes back to the City of Brotherly love looking for some NBA love.

Iverson comes back to Philly believing he’s the player who left there still a franchise star. He can’t see himself the way the rest of basketball does, because fading legends seldom do. They’re always the last to know, and that’s Allen Iverson now. Nevertheless, he’s smart enough to play along with the process, to tell Stefanski and Jordan that he gets it now, that he had his epiphany, and he just wants to come home, just wants to fit in, just wants to win.

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Allen will still believe in himself even if his play does not show it and frankly if he can occasionally light it up it will go a long ways in endearing himself to the starving NBA basketball fans in Philly.

The 76ers sport a NBA lineup that two years ago seemed on the upswing when Andre Iguodala was emerging as a star player. Since then Andre Miller has left and Elton Brand has been constantly hurt.

Now the lineup is filled with nobodies: Thaddeus Young, an under developed Samuel Dalembert, and point guard Jrue Holiday.

The only thing good about the 76ers is they find themselves in a division of losers including two of the worst teams in the New York Knicks and the New Jersey Nets.

Good Luck Allen Iverson, but don’t try to fool us. Good Luck 76ers, but you have already been fooled.

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Elton Brand has returned. That is all Philadelphia needed to know. The Sixers thought they were going to climb the mountain last year and be a true threat for the NBA title. After all they had made the playoffs the year before without Elton Brand and now they had a 20/10 guy on their team. How could they miss on improving and at least making the Conference finals?

They still don’t have the depth that might be needed and now that Andre Miller has bolted, Lou Williams will be at the point. Andre Iguodala will provide some firepower, along with Elton Brand. Thaddeus Young thrived without Elton around and averaged over 15 points per game in only his second year. He should continue to score in the motion offense.

As to playing under new coach Eddie Jordan’s motion offense, Brand can’t wait.

“Now we’re going to have spacing where everybody can use their talents,” he said. “Andre Iguodala can do everything out there. Lou Williams is gonna be able to slash and score. I’ll be able to cut into the post and not just be standing there on the block where the defense can get you with a double-team.”

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Yes, the 76ers are excited about their chances again and a lot of it has to do with Elton Brand and how he healed up from two different injuries. Talk about being off kilter, Elton had to have surgery on his right shoulder and was still trying to rehab a torn Achilles tendon on his left leg. Now Elton is fully recovered and can feel it.

Elton has healed and wants to win

Elton Brand is ready for a big year and so should the Sixers. Look out NBA!

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There are all kinds of coaches in the NBA, tough coaches, smart coaches, driven coaches, easy coaches, and so on. It seems like a certain kind of coach would be the best coach to win for every team, but that is not the case. Often a coach needs certain kinds of players or a level of players. A great coach may go to another team and not be able to coach at all.

What happened? Did he lose his coaching mojo? Nah! Certain coaches are just better for certain situations.

Sometimes you just need the players. Look at George Karl getting Chauncey Billups in Denver. Can Karl suddenly coach? Nah! He just needed a point guard to represent his coaching. Simple.

Collins showed on the Pistons that he can take a team that is building, without tons of talent, and mold them into winners. It is a type of style that can last only so long. He was sort of the early prep coach for the eventual champion Pistons.

Doug Collins contemplates life with the 76ers. Why not the Lakers or Cavs?

Collins would be perfect for Philly right now. Give them 1 or 2 years of Collins and they would learn to put out full effort at all times. Problem is, Doug says they have not even contacted him.

Collins was refuting an Associated Press report that quoted him as saying he had spoken with the 76ers about their coaching job that became available earlier in the week.

“They know, I’ve talked to them like two or three times, they know what I’ve said,” Collins was quoted as saying. “Whatever they want to do, they know where I am if they want to call.”

That, Collins said, didn’t happen. Collins told the Daily News that he had “absolutely not talked to the Sixers,” and said the story was “out of line.”

Earlier in the day, John Langel, Collins’ longtime agent, said that he had no knowledge of contact from either side. Last night, Langel said, “It’s unlikely that would have occurred without my knowledge.”

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Get with it Philly. You need Collins.

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The Orlando Magic were expected to just roll over the Philadelphia 76ers with ease. Who on the 76ers was going to be able to stop Dwight Howard? Turkoglu was going to have a shooting hey-day, whether hey-day is a word or not.

It has not worked out that way and that has caught the attention of many.

Now we have to start the blame game. Hmm, how about the coach? That Van Gundy guy, yeah, him. He gets a little worked up over a lot of nothing. It must be affecting his team.

But he can coach.

Will Coach Stan Van Gundy rip his hair out over the way the Magic are playing?

Nobody cares if he can coach; he is making the players nervous.

But he can coach.

How can you say that when the 76ers are hanging in there?

He is not the one shooting the ball or trying to hang onto it, but he ultimately may be blamed for what happens.

Van Gundy’s loud, in-your-face coaching style was particularly good for the Magic during the regular season, spurring an otherwise mellow roster to some clutch, cold-blooded victories. Winners of 59 games, the Magic have been among the league’s best road teams for two seasons, and twice beat the Lakers, Cleveland, Boston and San Antonio this season.

But it’s the playoffs that matter most, and so far Orlando has looked like anything but a dominant team capable of rolling through the Eastern Conference and contending for the NBA crown. A massive offensive slump, due in part to injuries, hit late in the regular season and carried into the playoffs, making a once-formidable inside-out attack look rather ordinary.

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It would really help if hyper coach Stan Van Gundy could put the 76ers away. To Van Gundy’s credit, he never admits to being perfect or even close to it.

Van Gundy has taken the criticism about his coaching antics in stride, admitting in classic self-deprecating style that he is hardly a coach without faults. He even joked last week that his kids played a game in which they tried to think of a person who had a less important job in society than their dad’s and couldn’t come up with one. Cracked Van Gundy: “They were humorous at first, but then it turned serious. & They finally conceded that at least I don’t do anything illegal.”

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You know we have sort of been sidetracked by the Chicago Bulls/ Boston Celtics series that became very interesting once Kevin Garnett was announced out of the playoffs with an injury. Don’t look now, but the pesky Philadelphia 76ers are giving the Orlando Magic all they can handle.

The 76ers made play after play at the end of the 4th quarter to almost pull out game four, in spite of Orlando’s 10 point lead. It all came down to a botched pick play by Orlando on offense and a clutch 3 pointer by a cold Hedo Turkoglu.

Turkoglu nailed a three-pointer over Thaddeus Young with 1.1 seconds left to lift the Orlando Magic to an 84-81 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday, evening their Eastern Conference first-round series at two games apiece.

GAME REPORT: Magic 84, 76ers 81

“The coach had confidence in me,” said Turkoglu, who came in just 7-for-30 from the floor in the series. “He called a play for me and I’m just glad I made it.”

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Without an answer to Dwight Howard underneath, the 76ers are probably going to take this series to game 7.

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