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Yesterday, the Knicks won their first playoff game since the 2001 playoffs. Today, we remembered the 10th anniversary of Allen Iverson’s “Practice” rant — full transcript here if you have the time.

Funny because both of these occasions put a time stamp on a league that was so different a decade ago. The Knicks’ last playoff win was against the Toronto Raptors in Game 3 — they would lose the next two and the series, setting up a Vince Carter-Iverson showdown that lasted seven games and one graduation trip too many.

Those playoffs were the high point of Iverson’s career. He scored 46 and 44 points in the last two games against Milwaukee in the Conference Finals, all this as a prelude for his masterpiece in Game 1 against the Lakers in the Finals.

There’s no need to throw statistics or link box scores to illustrate Iverson’s dominance. We all remember the highs — when he crossed over Jordan or stepped over Tyronne Lue in the Finals — as much as we remember the lows — the aforementioned “Practice” rant and every single moment in the last few years of his career.

But Iverson deserves better. He shouldn’t exist as just a handful of definitive moments, but appreciated as a whole. And that entire body of work exemplifies a once in a generation Hall Of Fame player whose flaws were perhaps magnified because the very fact that he could succeed — with his upbringing, at his height, with the teammates he was surrounded with — seemed so absurd in the first place. The reasons he shouldn’t be so great made more sense than what was actually happening.

A few weeks ago, I found an old Iverson action figure at a local sports collectible store for five bucks in the bargain bin. When I walked up to the counter to pay, the owner asked me whether it was true that Iverson is broke now.

I told him that his situation is probably not as bad as they say; there’s no denying that he’s probably had to rein in his lifestyle, but the direness of his financial situation was likely exaggerated.

I couldn’t help but think of this recurring theme in Iverson’s career.

Everything we’ve ever remembered him by is embellished. His crossover signaled the changing of the guard, and was a singular moment when a new generation came upon the league. His famous rant showed who he really was — a selfish superstar too wrapped up in his own achievements to even appreciate something so simple as practice.

But Iverson was probably somewhere in between — a bit under-appreciated, a bit overrated — and definitely misunderstood.

On one end: he’s the diminutive point guard who truly achieved the impossible by running the league over with his individual dominance. On the other: he’s the star who never acclimated late in his career and accepted a role that was fitting of his diminishing skills.

But it’s somewhere in the middle, when you combine all those elements together — the good, bad and ugly — that’s where you’ll find the answer. 

That’s Iverson: one of the greatest players of this generation, and still as compelling and as misrepresented all these years later.

photo via SI Vault