The lights were dim and the crowd was wild. It was a fantastic NBA moment and a fantastic time to be a Philadelphia 76er fan. In spite of losing and having no future, for just one small moment, you had it all. Allen Iverson’s name went over the loudspeaker and the fans roared their approval.

Ahh, it reminds me of my Detroit Lions on draft day. All things are possible, but few things are probable.

Can Allen Iverson lead the 76ers to victory in the NBA? Not tonight and most likely not on many nights. We are still waiting to see if the tank is full or half empty. Age is always a factor in sports, well, except for Brett Favre, but didn’t he retire?

Allen felt at home and seemed for a while to bring out the best in a star free lineup, until they eventually wore down and lost to that all time great team the Bobcats.

Philadelphia 76ers 83 Charlotte Bobcats 93

The NBA is thankful as one of its former proud franchises now has a legitimate fan draw. How powerful a celebrity is Allen Iverson?

Donovan McNabb, Brian Westbrook, Leonard Weaver, LeSean McCoy, and Todd Herremans were courtside. So was boxer Bernard Hopkins. Reporters from Italy, Japan, China, and Yahoo overflowed the press tables.

A day after watching Atlanta make its peace with fallen hero Michael Vick, it was just plain cool to witness Iverson running out to midcourt and kissing the Sixers logo after being introduced. Say this about him: Iverson knows how to create an unforgettable moment.

“It was a million percent the best,” Iverson said. “I had chill bumps running all through my body the whole game. It just felt good to be back. . . . I feel like the fans here appreciate me. They appreciate my effort and how I come to play every night. That’s all you want as a basketball player. That was the best part of the night, hearing these people’s voices all over again. It’s kind of bittersweet, because I wanted to win so bad regardless of whether I played well or not.”
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Ok, so his math is not so good. The 76ers certainly do not pay Allen Iverson to do mathematics. What do the 76ers pay him for anyway? The Electricity!

Allen Iverson showed his loyalty to the Pistons by doing one hand pushups while dribbling a basketball

NBAObsessed will always be an Allen Iverson fan come heck or high water, even though he put the final nails in my Pistons coffin last year, it did not matter, because it was Allen Iverson the little guy that always plays big.

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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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So far only a New Jersey Nets fan has entered the contest for a free NBA ‘09 XBOX game.

Check for the rules

Flip Saunders

Rumor has Flip Saunders, almost wrote Flip Wilson, coaching the 76ers. Remember he was coaching my Pistons last year. Flip Saunders was an amazing regular season coach, but just could not harness it for the playoffs. No word on how good of a coach Flip Wilson would be.

Saunders most recently coached the Detroit Pistons, and was the head coach of the Eastern Conference All-Stars in 2006 – a team that had four Pistons starters on the roster and arguably could have had five. Saunders was fired at the end of last year’s playoffs and replaced by current head coach Michael Curry.

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Not only does Mo Cheeks get fired from the 76ers, but EB dislocated his shoulder. The dream season to be, is not.

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Man, today there was this crazy thought rolling through my head. What if the Pistons had kept Chauncey Billups and Iverson had stayed on the Nuggets?

Nowhere to go with that thought, so how about taking a look at how some of this player movement and coaching movement is working out?

Chauncey Billups from Detroit to Denver
Denver is 7 – 3 in their last 10 games and in 1st place

Allen Iverson from Denver to Detroit
Detroit is 4 – 6 and in second place.

Ron Artest from everywhere to Houston
Houston is 7 – 3 and in 1st place

Jermaine O’Neal from Indiana to Toronto
Toronto is 3 – 7 and dead last in the Atlantic Division

Rick Carlisle to coach Dallas
Dallas is 8 – 2 but only in 4th place in the Southwest

Terry Porter to coach Phoenix
Phoenix is 5 -5 and in second place behind the Lakers

Mike D’Antoni to coach the Knicks
3 – 7 and 4th place in the same division as the Celtics

Mo Williams to Cleveland
9 – 1 in the last 10 and first place over the Pistons

This is a fun one
Elton Brand from L.A. Clippers to Philadelphia
Baron Davis from Golden State to L.A. Clippers
Corey Maggette from L.A. Clippers to Golden State

76er’s 4 -6 3rd place
Clip’s 2 – 8 5th place
Warriors 1 – 9 but still in 3rd place

Which just begs the question, what if Chauncey Billups had never left the Pistons?
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Elton Brand dunking

Philadelphia was down 38 – 13.

Past 76er teams would have quit. We are going to lose, so let’s go home.

But they did not quit and came back to win the game 94 – 92 over the Indiana Pacers. Elton Brand had 15 rebounds and Thaddeus Young had 25 points.

“It was a great comeback by Philadelphia,” Indiana coach Jim O’Brien said. “Sometimes you get too big a lead early in the game — and the NBA is a game of momentum shifts.”
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There is no quit with Mo Cheeks as coach. You noticed last year in the playoffs as this Philly team eventually lost to the Detroit Pistons that they just keep coming at you. There is no quit in these 76ers.

Now the Philadelphia team added prize 20 -10 guy, Elton Brand. Now the 76ers have some power on the blocks and who knows how far this team can go.
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Dwyane Wade helps put a whole new spin on which NBA Conference is dominant

This year will finally be the year where balance is restored. The Eastern Conference of the NBA will be dominant. It is time to crush the West!

Let’s start with Elton Brand and Dwyane Wade.

Elton Brand went from west to east, making one potentially decent team subpar out West and making one average Eastern team suddenly look very, very good. Meanwhile, Miami essentially adds a superstar in Dwyane Wade because he’s fully healed, and the Heat should improve from league doormat to something in the general vicinity of average.
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Lesson two would involve the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons.

At the very top and very bottom, the East rules. Boston, obviously, is the reigning champ, and Detroit had the league’s second-best record last season. Meanwhile, I’m projecting every Eastern team to win at least 27 games; rebuilding Western teams in Memphis, Oklahoma City and Sacramento all figure to do worse.

There are wild cards in the new way Dallas and Phoenix will play under new coaches Rick Carlisle and Terry Porter.

On the flip side the Knicks will have a real coach in Mike D’Antoni and Scott Skiles will head up Milwaukee.

All in all, it looks like a great year in the East!

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