"Andre Iguodala is playing with a balky knee that has been bothering him most of the season and caused him to miss the final two regular-season games in order to get ready for this playoff series against the Miami Heat, which the 76ers now trail 1-0 after Saturday's 97-89 loss.

In Game 1, Iguodala was originally assigned to guard LeBron James and did more than an admirable job by limiting him to four field goals.

In the fourth quarter, coach Doug Collins said he moved Iguodala over to Dwyane Wade in an attempt to slow down the player who is the Heat's go-to guy down the stretch.

James, Wade and painful knee tendinitis. It's enough to make a basketball player want to bury his head in a towel on the bench while the trainer wraps the knee in order to keep it warm and somewhat steady.

But here's the caveat. The Sixers need even more from Iguodala.

Saturday, he scored just four points, finishing the game with only two successful field goals in seven attempts. Iguodala missed all three of his shots in the final quarter, when the Sixers had clawed back to get to within one with 2 minutes, 23 seconds left play.

Throughout the season, when the Sixers needed a bucket at the end of a quarter, half or game, many times the clear out came for Iguodala, who would try to break his man off the dribble and create. Too often, Iguodala would pull up for jump shots, which certainly isn't the best part of his offensive game. Many times he seemed to get to the basket only to pass the ball out, instead of continuing his progress to the rim.

Saturday, there were several times when Iguodala seemed to have a clear path to the basket, and when he rose you expected him to throw down one of his thunderous dunks. Instead, he would throw a jump-bounce pass to a teammate further away from the basket or fire it across court where the offense would start all over again.

As much as his defense is appreciated and needed, if the Sixers are going to make some noise in this series, which resumes tonight at 7 o'clock at American Airlines Arena, Iguodala is going to have to score."