The Mag's Anne Marie Cruz took the 3 p.m. Amtrak down to Philly to see if the Sixers were for real. Seems so.

Cleveland is this year's Orlando.

Larry Brown is saying it. Our own Ric Bucher is saying it. And who can argue? The Cavs are a ragtag bunch of nose-grinding B-and C-listers, cohering as a Team. But that's something they couldn't do last year, saddled with the weight of a certain portly Portlander.

Stars. Who needs 'em? Then again ...

Allen Iverson seemed to take it as a personal insult that a third-quarter lineup of Andre Miller, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Clarence Weatherspoon, Lamond Murray and Matt Harpring was beating his team. Gimpy ankle or no, Iverson's step was as vicious as the day it silly-footed MJ. And as Allen stepped up his D, his Sixers followed, overplaying the Cavs wingmen, choking off passing lanes to the post, forcing their workaday counterparts to toss up sloppy interior lobs and iffy outside shots.

In the locker room, Iverson's laser-eyed look melted away. Eight-and-oh was an afterthought. He was focused on something else altogether. "Geiger!" he yelled from 10 feet away. "Let me see your glasses." Geiger handed over the pair of rectangular, amber-tinted, gold-framed shades he'd been wearing with his street clothes. He smirked with amusement as the Answer crouched in front of the huge mirror on the wall. AI jutted his head forward, mugging left side, then right. He liked what he saw. "Where'dyougetthem?Howmuchtheycost?Ineedtogetthese." Matt waved his hand. "Keep 'em," he said. A couple minutes later, Iverson faced the cameras from behind his new frames, looking very much like the Franchise. Bling bling: Whatever the Answer tries on these days is working. And this rapper is cohering with his B-siders into a Team.

A reporter walked up to Sixers prez Pat Croce -- he of the new New York Times bestseller I Feel Great and So Will You!. "So, Pat, your team is 8-0." Croce extended his arms over his head like a human Y embracing the world. "What do you think, is God wearing a Sixers jersey?" he joked.

Um, no.

And it doesn't really matter, as long as No. 3 is.

Anne Marie Cruz is a senior reporter for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail her at anne.marie.cruz@espnmag.com.