Word had just filtered into Philadelphia's locker room last April that the NBA would be making drastic changes to its game, allowing teams to play any defense they wanted. And considering all the four-letter bombs Sixers' guard Allen Iverson was spraying all around, he was either sensing trouble ahead or tuning up for his next raunchy rap album.
"It will take away all the creativity from the game," Iverson predicted. "Everybody is just going to be sitting in the lane, and the NBA is going to turn into nothing but a bunch of jumpers. I mean, I can't drive by all five guys if they are just going to stay in the lane. It's just going to be boring like college now. There is nothing wrong with the NBA the way it was."

Similar cries to the ones Iverson made six months ago are echoing throughout the NBA now as fellow shooting guards and small forwards who made their livings in the past by slashing to the hoop are becoming increasingly frustrated.

Few teams actually are playing traditional zone defenses, but the rules changes do allow players now to hover around the basket and smother anyone who comes into the lane. San Antonio, for example, often positions Tim Duncan and David Robinson on each side of the lane, daring guards to drive to the hole. And Shaquille O'Neal, Kevin Garnett and Dikembe Mutombo seem as though they are never more than an arm's length from the bucket defensively.

As a result, slashers such as Orlando's Tracy McGrady are having to settle for more jump shots, and when they do drive they are usually getting punished from all directions. Such was the case Monday night when McGrady badly bruised his shin in a collision with Karl Malone, who was dropping off his man and coming to lower the boom on the Magic standout.