After some early battles between the NBA?s commissioner?s David Stern and the toughest little player in the league Allen Iverson, the two seem to have made amends.

"It's actually pretty good to be thinking that this was our senior statesman at the Olympics, and did a good job representing the country," Stern said. "I guess there are four players who have won four or more scoring titles... Pretty good company. That's pretty good.

Ben Wallace's career-high 29 points and 16 rebounds weren't enought to stop Allen Iverson on Friday night, as the Sixers defeated the Pistons by a final score of 115-104.

Iverson scored 37 points and 15 assists on one of his most efficient nights in his playing career.  He shot 15-26 from the field, including 2-4 from 3-point land.

Larry Brown was impressed with his former player's performance.

``From a personal standpoint, when you know what someone like that is capable of, it's not a comfortable feeling,'' Brown said. ``We all know what he does, and I haven't seen anybody stop him. The reason we've been successful is we've stopped other people.''

The Pistons now lead the best-of-seven series by a count of 2-1.

Allen Iverson became the latest victim at the Palace of Auburn Hills.  This time an unidentified fan hit the Sixers guard with a quarter.

Iverson spoke briefly with Auburn Hills police and Palace security. Teammate Chris Webber witnessed the incident and pointed the fan out to security officials who immediately rushed over and detained him.

It has been an embarassing season for Pistons' fans, who in November began a brawl after a fan threw a cup of beer at Ron Artest and when the Pacers returned to Detroit several months later, there were multiple bomb threats.

Motivated by a technical foul where he untucked his shirt in a demonstrative manner, Rasheed Wallace scored 11 of 15 points in the third quarter to lead the Detroit Pistons to a 99-84 victory over Philadelphia on Tuesday, and a 2-0 lead in their first-round series as they defend their NBA title.

Rip Hamilton led all scorers with 23 points on 9-13 shooting.

Allen Iverson scored 19 points on a frustrating night where he spent much of the game on the hardwood.

Sixers forward Kyle Korver bumped his right knee diving for a loose ball in the second half Saturday. An MRI exam was negative, and Korver said yesterday the knee was "a lot better."

"It's got a little tendinitis," he said. "When you hit it just right, it just hurts a little bit. It'll be fine."

Korver had just 2 points in 35 minutes in Game 1 at Detroit.

The defending champion Detroit Pistons got a first quarter scare from the Philadelphia 76ers, trailing 28-16 at the end of the first 12:00.  They recovered in the 2nd quarter to take a two point lead into the half.

The second half was a complete domination, as the Pistons rolled to a 106-85 win.

Rasheed Wallace had 29 points and 10 rebounds, while TayShaun Prince scored 23.

Allen Iverson scored 29 points on 9-22 shooting, including 4-8 from 3-point land.  Chris Webber was impressive, scoring 27 points.

The Sixers must be disappointed with the result, particulary after they played so well in the first quarter.  They had an opportunity to steal a Game 1 as they did in the 2001 NBA Finals at Los Angeles.

The NBA Playoffs begin on Saturday in Detroit where they left off last season, when the Sixers face the defending champion Pistons.  The match-up features Larry Brown against his former club and Allen Iverson, who thrives on the big game.

The Houston Rockets will then meet the Dallas Mavericks, their in-state rivals.  In past year's this would surely be a shootout, but both teams are stressing defense this season.

At 8:00 EST in Boston, the Pacers will face the Celtics.  This will be Reggie Miller's final postseason and he has made his career on showstopping performances in the playoffs.

The day's nightcap will come from KeyArena in Seattle when the SuperSonics host the Sacramento Kings.  Both teams have been battling injuries, so the healthier team here will have the advantage.

The Philadelphia 76ers? Allen Iverson and the Phoenix Suns? Amar? Stoudemire today were named Eastern Conference and Western Conference Players of the Month, respectively, for games played during the month of April.

For the month, Iverson led the league in scoring, averaging 32.8 points on .473 shooting and ranked fifth overall in assists with 9.1 apg.  He added 4.2 rebounds and 41.0 minutes per game and had four points-assists double-doubles for the month.  He also is the league-leader in steals, with 2.7 steals per game.

Stoudemire ranks second in scoring in the Western Conference and fifth overall with 25.9 points on .546 shooting.  He averaged 10.7 rebounds per game and added 2.3 assists per game.  With eight free-throws made in his final regular season game at Sacramento, Stoudemire surpassed former Suns? player Connie Hawkins record for 577 free throws made in a single season totaling 583.

Philadelphia 76ers President and General Manager Billy King announced today that the Sixers have placed forward Chris Webber on the injured list (left knee synovitis) and activated forward Michael Bradley.

Bradley was placed on the injured list on March 5 with a left calf strain and has appeared in one game this season with the 76ers. The Sixers acquired Bradley along with Matt Barnes and Chris Webber from Sacramento on Feb. 23 in a trade with Sacramento.

Allen Iverson had 39 points and 12 assists, while Kyle Korver scored 19 points to lead the 76ers back into the playoffs for the first time in two years with a 122-106 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night.

``I feel like myself and my teammates, we are a playoff team,'' Iverson said. ``We believed that all year. We believed in each other. We stuck with each other in good times and bad times and we never pointed fingers at each other.''

The Sixers could still get the 6th seed if they win their final game and the Pacers lose their final game.

``We had to act like we wanted to get in,'' Iverson said. ``We had to play this game as hard as we could. I was telling my teammates `After this game, you should really be tired because you should leave everything out there.' This game had a lot on the line.''