Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/29984407/ http://0rz.tw/zzwhC ********************************************************************* Iverson tries to laugh, not cry about situation 'Looking at the big picture,' Pistons guard is resigned to role off the bench By Justice B. Hill / updated 12:40 a.m. ET April 1, 2009 ********************************************************************* CLEVELAND - "How many minutes did I play?" Allen Iverson asked Tuesday night as a gang of reporters crowded at his locker stall. Someone looked at the stats sheet and told him 18 minutes, though it was actually 18 minutes and two seconds. Iverson shrugged his shoulders. "Eighteen minutes" aren’t much for a basketball player who once belonged to NBA royalty. No more. Iverson’s career now resembles that of journeyman more than it does a lord of the game. At this point, he’s seeing more pine time than playing time, even in games like the 79-73 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, a game that the Allen Iverson of yesteryear might well have turned into a win. But with the outcome in the balance, Iverson sat. He can’t understand why. "It’s a bad time for me — mentally,” he said, his eyes surveying the cramped locker room in search of nothing in particular. "I’m just trying to get through it without starting a whole bunch of nonsense. I’m kinda looking at the big picture." The big picture for the Pistons doesn’t include Allen Iverson. In the last year of a contract that has made him rich, he finds himself playing out the string, hopeful that coach Michael Curry will call his name to come off the bench. But Curry doesn’t count on Iverson to be a difference-maker, a player who could routinely shoot a team to victory. Even as the Pistons vie for a spot in the postseason, they move toward a playoff berth without Iverson in a significant role. Call it a coach's decision, although it’s a decision that Iverson finds confusing. He seems not to doubt that, at 33, he has plenty of life left in his game. He knows he does. He doesn’t, however, think Curry knows it. He thinks Curry believes the Pistons are better equipped to win games with Iverson in a secondary role — or in no role at all. “Obviously, he feels that way,” Iverson said. He laughed. “I mean, I’m just being as realistic as I can,” he continued. “If I had my choice, I’d never come out. I’ve been like that my whole career.” In his glory days, back when his name stood next to the brightest stars in the game, he put up numbers as gaudy as anybody else’s. He won scoring titles, and he was the best little man in the NBA, a North Star among the galaxy of stars. Back then, he’d get mad if he played 46 minutes and came out for two minutes. He proved he was an ironman in a small man’s body. Now, he sounds uncertain what he is with the Pistons. But he’s not about to sound-off. He gives no profanity-laced monologue these days about what some people might see as an injustice to a player who still has game. Frustrated he is, but he’s kept his frustration in check. “Being who I am, things being pointed at me, people are gonna make a big deal out of me venting my frustrations,” Iverson said. “I know it; I’ve been through so much; I understand that. “I’m just trying to laugh as much as I can to stop from crying, man — just be as positive as I can to get through this whole thing.” ********************************************************************* -- Only the strong survive- Iverson ⊕ ═█┘ ⊕ ●╱ 　　　 Ｗ ● ●︵ ● ●)) ３╯ <３\ /３⊕ ／３﹚ ３ \\ />⊕ >/ ⊕ ╲> >> ========= http://www.wretch.cc/blog/AWEI3 ========= --

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