Iverson's lost a step. Maybe 2. I don't think he can get into the lane at will, and without that ability he's going to go through spurts where he's flat out ineffective. His game isn't going to adapt well with age. Steep drop off from 32 to 33, and could be another steep drop off to 34. I'm not sure I expect even 20 ppg.
He's obviously not the lightning rod he was when he left here. I still think he's quick enough to penetrate at will... its his ability to elevate off the dribble to get his shot off that has me a little worried. Last night he was able to draw contact in some cases, and in another he got his shot blocked by Ty Lawson. He does need to get his legs back and probably shouldn't have played 37 minutes last night. I just hope that when he does go through spurts where he's ineffective offensively he's mindful enough to defer to others like he did last night.
Through the first 3 quarters, I actually thought they played surprisingly well last night with Iverson in the lineup. I'll admit that it was better than I thought it would be. We did a pitiful job of defending the perimeter as usual, but we held a high scoring Denver team to 93 points, held Melo to 14 points, held them to 39% FG's, and only allowed 26 points in the paint. Overall, I didn't have too many qualms with the way we defended last night. It was our bench contributing a collective 2 points to Denver's 29 that killed us. Makes you wonder what could have happened if Williams, Speights, and Holiday were available.
