Iverson finds the spotlight - and shares it

Arron Afflalo picked up his third foul seven minutes before halftime and went to the bench. Rodney Stuckey followed two minutes later, also saddled with three fouls. Rip Hamilton’s shot had already shown signs of betrayal by then. Rasheed Wallace had yet to find the bottom of the net.

Allen Iverson has spent most of his first six weeks as a Piston trying not to step on toes, but all of a sudden there weren’t that many toes in the pool. So for about three wildly entertaining minutes, he did what he’d done for his first 12 remarkable NBA seasons: strap an entire NBA franchise to his wiry little frame and drag everyone along for the ride.

He wound up with 28 points – just one more than he’s averaged over his career, but just two off of his best in his 19th game since the trade that transformed the Pistons.

“I’ve never been on a team where you start five guys and the coach calls plays for all five guys,” Iverson said, his eyes wide with the wonder of it still. “That says a lot about our offensive ability. But it’s different for me and it’s just something I have to get used to – something I’m willing to get used to because I just see the big picture.”

It’s still fair to argue the merits of the trade, whether Iverson’s explosiveness vs. Chauncey Billups’ steady hand will push the Pistons over the hump or push them out of their comfort zone, but about that last thing – Iverson’s willingness to subvert the scorer in his soul for the betterment of the team – there really are no doubters.

Even on a night he scored 28 and supplied plenty of highlight-reel fodder, his night was every bit as memorable for the simple as the spectacular.

Let’s start with the spectacular, late in the second half with the Pistons nursing a three-point lead.

It began with Iverson darting from left to right, his favorite flight path that starts on the left wing and swoops across the lane toward the basket on the other side of the rim, faking a pass to Antonio McDyess that froze the Washington defense while Iverson continued, unmolested, for a layup between trees JaVale McGee and Antawn Jamison.

The next minute he was in transition, in the middle of the floor, the ball in his hands, McDyess cutting to the basket from the right wing, Iverson taking the ball with his right hand behind his back – again, making everyone in the building think it was coming out the other side, a pass to his left – but stopping it there by bringing his left hand around his back, too, then redirecting it to his right, to McDyess, for an easy layup.

If you can’t picture it, don’t worry. “SportsCenter” will be playing it all day.

In those final minutes before halftime, he put up six points and spoon-fed McDyess another two, fueling a spurt that saw the Pistons score 25 percent of their first-half points in about half that percentage of the minutes.

Some of it is just settling in, feeling enough like one of the guys finally that he’s told himself it’s OK to be Allen Iverson even when it’s Rip Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace running with him, not Kevin Ollie and Samuel Dalembert. But most of it is the ease he feels now playing off of the ball with Rodney Stuckey on a freight train to stardom at point guard.

“Lineup change,” Michael Curry answered immediately when I asked him which was the bigger influence in the more-at-ease Iverson we’ve seen over the last week, the 19-game experience or the lineup change. “When you look back at it, he hadn’t strictly run the point in some years. It’s been a long, long time since he did that and we were asking him to do that when he first got here. So he never was able to get going into games a lot of times. Just by having Stuckey out there, it relieves him of that.”

Which brings us to the simple.

Iverson had 20 points by the midway mark of the third quarter, then spent the next few minutes resting to get ready for the fourth. The Pistons led by only three after three. Iverson had to be hearing the little voice in his head telling him it was now his time, his place to take over.

But Stuckey, who had played a little unevenly to that point, got it going early, hitting a 20-footer and getting to the foul line twice for six quick points.

So a few possessions later, Iverson fed Stuckey, posting up against Juan Dixon, against whom he owns an overwhelming physical advantage. But Washington double-teamed and Stuckey kicked it back out to Iverson, whose every instinct at that point must have screamed at him to attack the basket while Washington’s defense was on the move. But he stayed with it, dumping the ball back in the post to Stuckey, who this time lowered his left shoulder, got inside the lane, drawing three Wizards defenders with him, and found Tayshaun Prince for a dunk and a seven-point lead.

Later still, he hit McDyess for another layup – and, ironically enough, McDyess, a part of the trade that netted Iverson, has quickly developed a very nice chemistry with him – and an eight-point lead, then drove baseline and found Prince for a wide-open jumper to stretch it to 10.

Stuckey wound up with another bulging stat line: 18 points, 11 assists and only two turnovers, nine of his points and four of his assists coming in the fourth quarter, Iverson perfectly content to dance into the spotlight when called upon, and slide one-half step to the side when it shone brightest upon Stuckey’s shoulders.

“I’m definitely getting comfortable,” he said. “I understand my role. I understand when it’s going to be time for me to try to dominate games and when it’s going to be time for me to sit back and let somebody else do it. Over time, it’s going to get better and better.”

Makes you wonder where they’ll be in another 19 games.

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