Iguodala also opens up his own driving space with his own defense, what with himself being third in the NBA in steals.

Iguodala also is a smart decision-maker, with the smartest decision being turning down a five-year, $60 million extension before the season.

Unlike the Bulls’ Ben Gordon and Luol Deng, who helped drag down the formerly scary young franchise with their unhappiness with the relative paucity of the extensions they turned down, Iguodala funneled his distaste into his play, rather than the other way around.

Other Sixers youngsters have caught fire as well. Louis Williams, 21, has emerged as a second scoring option and is drawing comparisons to Iverson, except that he’s quicker, taller (6-foot-2) and slightly less tattooed. Samuel Dalembert, 26, who looked for a while to be a contractual albatross with another $35 million or so coming in the following three seasons, is looking like a bargain. He’s never going to much of a scorer, though his 10.5 points a night are hardly Wallace-esque. Better yet is that he’s among the league leaders in blocks and offensive rebounds, giving the 76ers an imposing presence around the basket.

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Maybe the scariest thing about this team — the sort of thing that scares Cheeks as well as opponents — is not always knowing what to expect, a common trait among young up-and-comers. The Sixers’ 22 victories in the last 33 games have come by an average of 11 points — but so have their 11 losses. But if you are going to kill off the Sixers, you have to do it early. Philadelphia is a relentless second-half team, including outscoring Chicago 40-20 in the fourth-quarter to turn a 16-point deficit into a 110-106 victory. In its 91-90 loss to Cleveland Monday night, Philadelphia was down eight entering the fourth quarter and seemingly had the game won until Dalembert was charged with a foul after a referee’s post-buzzer review.

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The Sixers, despite their turnaround, still have some gaping flaws that will prevent them from making it too far in the playoffs. Their free-throw shooting is awful, worst in the NBA. The lack of a strong, scoring power forward will prevent them from effectively matching up against a Kevin Garnett or Rasheed Wallace. (With $30 million in offseason cap space, Elton Brand is waiting by the phone for an offseason call from Stefanski.)

But at the least, Philadelphia can push the Eastern’s elite much more than they care to in their other inevitable march to the conference finals.

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