But then he hoisted both the ball and the ballclub, with nerve. And after it was over, teammate Lou Williams might have put it the best of all.
"It was a great thing that he had the confidence to want to shoot that ball again," Williams said, the 100-98 final score just having stunned Amway Arena into silence. "That shows how much he has grown as our leader, as one of the captains of our team. He missed two free throws, nobody hung their heads, he didn't hang his head. He came down and demanded the ball again.
"That says a lot about where he is right now, how focused he is. He made a great shot, and that's what we're going to need out of him in this series. He's going to have to do that every single game."
The Sixers are big underdogs against the Magic; this just in. But it is the time of the year when reputations are made and unmade, and now they have won Game 1, and now Iguodala has led them with a fine playoff line: 20 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, and the game-winning dagger.
Reputations, made and unmade . . .
"I think my teammates expect me to make big plays and I have to make them in order to be a leader for this team," Iguodala said. "Missing those free throws, they gave me an opportunity to get it back. That speaks volumes for those guys. They said, 'We're going to give our leader another chance.'
"And they stuck with me, too. Right after I missed them, Thaddeus Young looked at me and said, 'We'll get it back.' I think tonight we did a good job of sticking together as a team, and as one unit, and it showed when we were getting back in the game."
Last spring, the Detroit Pistons completely handcuffed Iguodala in their playoff series. It was painful to watch at times.
