With our cover story in mind, ESPN The Magazine's Chris Palmer went down to Philly last Friday to see if he could shed any light on this A.I.-Coach Brown thing.

In the final minutes of Wizards/Sixers, the best team and the worst team in the NBA were tied at 88. Coming out of a timeout, Larry Brown yelled instructions to Allen Iverson, then stopped mid-sentence. Iverson already knew what to do. And Brown knew it.

On the next three plays, Iverson drilled a three, knocked down a 12-foot floater (and one), then added two more free throws. Ball game.

As Iverson left the floor, Brown hugged him without a word as if to simply say, "Thanks for being Allen Iverson."

In the locker room later, a TV was tuned to the Hornets/Hawks game. Iverson stood in a big black coat and a do-rag with little skulls on it and watched his boy Nazr Mohammed, who was banished to Atlanta in the Dikembe deal. Iverson was a little ticked that his pal was traded, as that seems to happen to all his close friends.

"Yeah, Nas, show 'em whassup," said Iverson. Every time Mohammed touched the ball, Iverson offered up a "Yeah, Nas!" When Hawks guard Jason Terry tried to feed the post, Mohammed was pushed by P.J. Brown and the ball went out of bounds. "That's a foul, man," cried Iverson, looking at me, his faced scrunched up in disbelief.

Just then, Iverson noticed Coach Brown standing next to him, watching the game with the top two buttons on his white shirt undone. Iverson began to cheer Mohammed louder and louder. "That man can play. Just look at him," shouted Iverson. "Yeah, Nas, yeah! Show 'em what you about!"

It was subtle (in a loud way), and Iverson made his point. Brown just looked weary. As he turned for the door he met Eric Snow, who was returning from the shower wearing a white Sixers bathrobe. Brown hugged Snow for three or four seconds, without a word, as if to say, "Thank you for not being Allen Iverson".