Wrong Answer

Iverson's nightmarish game dooms Sixers

Allen Iverson has had a lot of memorable playoff games in his NBA career.

Wednesday night’s Game 5 loss to the Pistons was one he surely will want to forget.

Iverson missed a mind-boggling 20 of 25 shots and finished with just 14 points, one off his career playoff low, in his team’s heartbreaking 78-77 loss in Detroit. Worse, he made a late defensive mistake that might have cost his team the game.

With the Sixers ahead 77-76 with 3.9 seconds left, Iverson lined up to cover Pistons guard Richard Hamilton on an inbounds play in front of his team’s bench. But when the play began, Iverson suddenly shaded toward the 3-point line (denying a pass out top) instead of either straight ahead or toward the baseline. By doing so, he allowed Hamilton a clear pass to Chucky Atkins coming off a curl at the foul line.

Atkins collected Hamilton’s pass, spun past Aaron McKie and flipped a baseline 8-footer over a leaping Derrick Coleman. The ball started to go down before Coleman clearly jabbed it out of the net. The refs immediately called goaltending -- in fact, D.C. actually goaltended twice since he tapped the backboard with his hand as the shot was going up -- and the Pistons had the lead with 0.9 seconds left.

1 Wins by Detroit in its past 15 road playoff games. "I've been believing that all season long, that if we get to the Finals, we've got a chance to win, just because of what we went through last season. They've got some great teams over there and they've got a lot of talent, but everybody's human. Everybody can be beat and that's been proven in this postseason." " -- Nets coach Byron Scott, on a possible Finals matchup against a Western Conference power. Do double-digit leads in the first half mean anything in these playoffs?

In a fitting cap to his evening, Iverson then missed a full-court desperation heave.

Iverson’s blunder on the inbounds pass might seem nit-picky, but it was significant. The main job of the man guarding the inbounds pass is to deny the passer a good look. There simply was no good reason for Iverson to be overplaying the pass out to one side like he did.

Of course, maybe if he went to practice more often…

To be fair, Iverson otherwise played pretty well Wednesday night. Despite his poor shooting, he finished with eight rebounds, nine assists and four steals. Facing two or three Pistons defenders every time he put the ball on the floor, Iverson continually looked for teammates.

It was Iverson, in fact, who set up Eric Snow’s 3-pointer that had given Philly the lead just before Atkins’ heroics. By driving into the lane and drawing several Detroit defenders, Iverson was able to pitch the ball to Coleman, who in turn sent it out to Snow for the open trey. On a key possession earlier, he passed up a 12-footer and instead hit Kenny Thomas underneath for an easy bucket.

For Iverson and the Sixers, it just seemed like there was a lid on the basket all night. Early on, several Philly bunnies rimmed out. Maybe the Sixers were rushing their shots because Ben Wallace was around. Whatever the case, Iverson has to be wondering why he seems to have lost his mojo in Motown. First he misses two key free throws at the end of Game 2. Then he has a nightmare in Game 5.

And to think he was nearly traded to the Pistons in the summer of 2000.

	Allen Einstein/NBAE/Getty Images Stud: Chucky Atkins, G, Pistons He filled in admirably for the injured Chauncey Billups, scoring 17 points on 5-of-11 shooting and dishing out five assists. And, oh yeah, he hit the game-winner.		Allen Einstein/NBAE/Getty Images Dud: Keith Van Horn, G, Sixers Four fouls and four points on 2-of-10 shooting won't get it done for Van Horn, who isn't of much use to a ballclub unless he is scoring.

With Chauncey Billups out of the lineup in Game 5, Hamilton answered the call for Detroit. He scored 20 points, many of them early when the Pistons needed to get off to a good start. Hamilton also did a good job chasing Iverson much of the game. Have any two rookies been bigger playoff surprises than Tayshaun Prince and Mehmut Okur? Prince, in particular, has been a revelation. He even took McKie into the post and schooled him for a key bucket late in the game, just as he did in Game 2.

Marty Burns covers pro basketball for SI.com. Click here to send Marty a question or comment.