This city should belong to Iguodala. Especially now.
He is playing hurt. Really hurt.
The chondromalacia in Iguodala's right knee, a chronic condition that dates back more than 5 years, flared in mid-March. That's right about the time Phillies second baseman Chase Utley was shelved with the same condition, possibly for as long as 3 months.
Had it happened earlier this season, Iguodala would have been shelved, too. Had the Sixers been out of the playoff picture, Iguodala would have been shut down.
Instead, he played for the next month. The knee cost Iguodala only the last two games of the regular season, when Sixers management insisted he sit, general manager Ed Stafanski said.
Then, on that knee, four times in 9 days in the NBA playoffs' marquee matchup, as the Sixers faced the Miami Heat, Iguodala played. He drew the masochistic duty of defending LeBron James, the world's most punishing small forward, and Dwyane Wade, currently the world's best shooting guard. He also was asked to be the hub of the offense.
In agony.
"It hurts, because you can't really lift," Iguodala said. "You go into a jump shot and you feel like it's going to give at times. You feel a pinch. You don't know if the pain is going to come back. You're thinking about it every shot. Every plant. That's probably the toughest."
What he is doing should burnish his shameless legacy; should, in this grit-and-spit town, raise him to heroic heights.
The limitations explain why he didn't score much until Game 4. He simply could not stop, he could not leap, he could not finish.
And he would not complain.
Even yesterday, when asked directly, Iguodala explained his situation with a stringent qualification:
"The most important thing is, you can't have any excuses. If you've got to play, you've got to play. No matter what the circumstances," Iguodala said. "This is the time when you have to show your teammates, 'Hey, you've got to sacrifice.' "
