Sixers' Iverson is all business The first thing one notices about Allen Iverson isn't the cornrows or tattoos. It's his stature. At 6 feet, 165 pounds, he's supported by spindly legs that barely have visible calves. He is the shortest player to win an NBA scoring title and this season became the shortest to win the league's most valuable player award. The Philadelphia 76ers guard is an anomaly, a league MVP who is half a foot shorter and 35 pounds lighter than the average player. But this is Allen Iverson, and judging him by normal standards just doesn't work. "There has never been anyone in the NBA like Allen Iverson," 76ers president Pat Croce says. "He's an inspiration to me, the team, and the city. It's amazing to realize that he was all but traded before the season started and look where he is now." Where Iverson happens to be is on his sport's biggest stage — the NBA Finals. That's a long way from where Iverson was a year ago — in a seemingly constant confrontation with coach Larry Brown about everything from coming to practice on time to how he accepted a dress code. Working out the differences with his coach, softening his image while cementing his renown for mental and physical toughness have all contributed to making this Allen Iverson's season. Coaches from youth leagues on up can point to his developing relationship with Brown as a teaching tool. Youngsters see that Iverson can change his act without changing himself, and his willingness to play hurt and his humility have endeared him to a growing legion of fans. "It makes me feel that much better because I had to look in the mirror and change a lot of things about myself," Iverson said Tuesday. "When I got into the league, I just felt like it was all about just basketball, and it wasn't a business. And I found out the hard way that it was business, and I had to start doing the little things, things that I never did before. "I think this year, I really concentrated on just being a professional, just trying to be the first one at practice and the last one to leave. I just feel good about having overcome everything ... that people have been saying about me, my teammates and my coaches, saying that we couldn't get to this point. Putting everything aside and getting here means everything to me." Brown, who at one time insisted Iverson be traded, now says he is as proud of Iverson as he has been of a player. "You guys know how this marriage has been," Brown says. "But I couldn't have scripted it any better to see how he has grown as a person. Forget about the basketball. We all knew he had great talent. He's just developed so much as a human being and a teammate. I can't imagine any player having a better year or a bigger impact on a team or a city." These days, Iverson is doing and saying — and believing in — all the right things. He credits his coach and his teammates at every opportunity and never publicly complains about any deficiencies any of his teammates might display. "He is a great teammate because he believes in himself and in all of us," says Aaron McKie, Iverson's closest friend on the team. "I've never taken issue with how Allen played," Brown says. "My issues were about things like being on time and showing up for practice. All of the issues with Allen have always been about things he could change." Brown was the first one Iverson called after being voted the MVP in this season's All-Star Game. Brown was the first one he thanked when he won his league MVP award. And Brown was the one he ran to hug after the 76ers won the Eastern Conference championship. "Allen Iverson and Larry Brown getting along ... that's magic," Croce says. "Any time they smile at each other, I'm happy. If they're hugging, I'm ecstatic." Staggering popularity Change is a funny word when it comes to Iverson. He has changed his image without really changing who he is. At 76ers home games, his No. 3 jersey is practically the standard article of attire. Youngsters of all ages and ethnicities, and even some adults, take pride in putting on that jersey with "IVERSON" stitched across the back of it. "I like him because he's little like me, and he can dribble good," 4-year-old Mekhiel Oberry said, his Iverson jersey neatly tucked into his jeans. When asked why she was wearing an Iverson jersey, 9-year-old Jill Cooney said it was because that's what she wears every day. "I have five of them. I don't like to wear anything else." Says Harvey Poole, 46: "He's us, he's all of us. He's a tough S.O.B., and he's fighting for us." Iverson used to scare people — his hair, tattoos, the offensive rap lyrics, his background and the crowd he ran with. But he is the face of the new NBA now. He's come a long way since the controversy a couple of seasons ago when his tattoos were air brushed out of a photo on the cover of a league publication. Indeed, there was a time when the image-conscious NBA wanted suit-wearing, easily digestible players. But now it has come to not only accept but also promote players like Iverson. "The league is learning that the hip-hop is pretty hip," Croce says. "It's pretty cool to have those fans. It's great to have guys and girls out there, regardless of what race or gender, who are Allen Iverson fans. He is really doing something special for us and the league." Even so, Iverson appears for post-game interviews dressed as though he were appearing in a rap video. Yet, holding his 5-year-old daughter Tiaura or his 2-year-old son, Allen II, Iverson usually first praises his teammates and downplays his contributions, no matter how staggering. Adults and corporate America might identify more with Kobe Bryant's smoothness or Michael Jordan's sophistication, but young people identify with Iverson. He is their proof that it's OK to be different, to look the look and walk the walk as long as you aren't offensive and as long as you deliver. "His basketball prowess has superseded any outside physical attributes, any tattoos, baggy pants or corn-rowed hair," Croce says. "People have opened the book, and they realize that the cover wasn't that outrageous. And when they read some of the pages, they see a big heart and a fabulous soul and someone who was really a dear person, but really had such a strong will and a determination to win." Failure breeds skepticism, but success breeds acceptance. Had Iverson not won every award imaginable this season — All-Star Game MVP, regular season MVP, first-team All-NBA — and led the league in scoring and guided his team to the NBA Finals, there probably wouldn't be any talk about his transformation into a coach's dream, a perfect teammate and easily promotable star. After scoring 44 points in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday, sending the 76ers to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1983, Iverson was overcome with emotion — and he's still riding it. He could barely sleep that night and couldn't wait to get up and make sure it was all real. "I can't remember the last time I got up that early smiling as much as I was," he told reporters in Philadelphia on Monday. Tough through and through Toughness is often a difficult thing to measure. Not with Iverson. Two plays during the series against Milwaukee illustrate how tough he is. In Game 4, he took an elbow to the mouth from the Bucks' Ray Allen and staggered to the floor. A tooth was loosened, and his mouth filled with blood. "I didn't think the refs were going to let me back in the game because I was spitting up so much blood," Iverson says. "I was trying to stop the bleeding but it wouldn't stop, so I kept my mouth closed and swallowed the blood when it filled up." He scored 28 points in that game, and the 76ers evened the series at two games apiece. In Game 6, the first time he drove down the lane, Milwaukee's 6-10, 230-pound Scott Williams stepped in front of him and delivered a punishing forearm blow to the throat that flattened Iverson. He got up and shot his free throws, his demeanor sending the message that he will not and cannot be intimidated. He ended up with 46 points in a losing effort that night, but the message was clear. Now Iverson finds himself in a position he has never been in before, four wins from an NBA title, yet a position he's also been in his entire life — the underdog. "They are confident," Iverson says of the Lakers. "If I went through the playoffs and we had not lost a game, I would think we weren't going to lose at all. They are supposed to feel that way. But there's a flip side to that. We didn't make this long trip just to come out here, roll over and die. We're going to play every one of these games like it's our last because we don't know that we'll ever get this opportunity again."		Author David Dupree   Source USA Today   Return to Articles