Go ahead and jump off the Sixers' bandwagon, if you didn't bail out the second you heard Allen Iverson is going to miss the final 25 days of the season.

Go ahead, because you're making a big mistake.

The Sixers might fall a place or two in the standings with the reigning MVP shelved by a busted bone in his left hand. But they won't fall out of the playoffs entirely, for a few reasons:

	Allen Iverson hopes his Sixers will still be playing when his broken hand heals.

Defense. Size. Toughness. Larry Brown. And oh, did we mention, they're still playing in the pathetic Eastern Conference, and time is running out on Pat Riley and Michael Jordan.

"Everybody is still focused and we're going to keep playing because our goal is to make the playoffs," said the Sixers' Dikembe Mutombo. "When we are in the playoffs, we know that Allen is going to come back."

If not sooner.

Normally, it takes an injury involving bone sticking through skin for Iverson to be confined to the sidelines. Even though he has had a cast placed on the wrist and has been told by doctors that he can't pick up a basketball for another three weeks, he's already envisioning a scenario where he'll come back for the final few regular-season games, if it means saving the Sixers' playoff berth.

You expected differently? Nobody in the entire NBA is tougher or plays with more pain and injuries on a day-to-day basis. So while the Sixers' doctors have told Iverson that he is not returning until the bone is totally healed, he's got other plans if his team needs some late wins.

"I'll probably put a pad on top of it and go to work," he said. "If I'm able to play without a whole lot of pain, then I'm out there, no question about it."

In the meantime, he's searching for silver linings.

"My other injuries can heal up," he said, finding one. "If I come back and this one is bothering me a little bit, it will be the only one I have in the playoffs."

Since it's his non-shooting hand that was broken by a Tony Battie chop, that's another reason to believe that Iverson will be back on the court before the regular season ends April 17. In the meantime, it's probably going to be another titanic struggle for the Sixers to stay ahead of Indiana and Charlotte for sixth place. But since when has anything ever come easy for this team? Their "run" to the NBA Finals last spring was nothing less than a death march. But it's that kind of adversity that will help get them through this latest crisis.

"One thing that will keep us going is our defensive ability," Mutombo said.

Yes, Iverson is a huge part of that, since he leads the NBA in steals at 2.8 per game. But with Mutombo anchoring the back line and the Sixers getting Aaron McKie back from an ankle injury, to go along with Eric Snow and other key defenders, they're still going to be tough to score on over their last 13 games.

Heading into this week, Philly ranked third in field-goal percentage defense (42.4), second in points per game allowed (89.4) and fifth in defensive rebounding. Brown talks about playing "the right way," and that starts with stopping the other guys cold. They're not going to abandon that philosophy now.

"We're too strong of a defensive team to fall apart," Mutombo said. "We have lost a few games by two or three points lately, but our effort has been great. That will help us over the remainder of the season."

Starting with their home game Wednesday against the Nets, seven of the Sixers' 13 remaining games are against teams with .500-or-better records. But there's not a Western Conference heavyweight in the group.

The toughest battles will come against New Jersey (two games), Milwaukee (two games) and Washington (two games). Sure, they will miss Iverson's 31.4 points a game along with his 5.5 assists, but it's not as if they can't still finish in the top eight. Going into Tuesday's games, Philadelphia had six fewer losses than Washington and Miami, both with 38 and on the outside of the playoff race looking in.

The Heat and Wiz still have to play the Lakers, with Washington also facing Dallas this Sunday.

"Philly could fall out of the race, but they've still got too many good players to let that happen," one Eastern Conference executive said. "Plus, what makes you think that Miami and Washington can make up all that ground?"

Iverson, who was giving Brown MVP-caliber play for the month of March, is staying positive.

	“	Everybody thinks we're going to fold and go home early and have a good summer. But I've got a lot of faith in my teammates. They know what they've got to do. ... They know. It's time to put up or shut up. ”
		— Allen Iverson

"It's another obstacle for myself and my team," he said. "Our team and coaching staff have to come together and help each other. It's probably going to be tough. Everybody thinks we're going to fold and go home early and have a good summer. But I've got a lot of faith in my teammates. They know what they've got to do. I always say, when somebody goes down, 'other guys got to shine.' They know. It's time to put up or shut up."

If they don't put up, then the East is so wide open, the Nets could be the team to beat. Even with Jersey's success, and the surprising seasons in Detroit and Boston, the Sixers and Raptors were widely considered to be the teams best-suited in the East for the playoff wars. They could defend. Board. They both had size. They could find ways to score down the stretch in half-court playoff battles. Toronto had Vince Carter, with no commencement exercises on his calendar this spring. Philadelphia, of course, had the mercurial Iverson.

Hard to believe, but they both could be putting away their uniforms after their regular-season finales. With Carter preparing for knee surgery this week, Toronto is dead. With Iverson's injury, the Sixers are on life support, especially on offense, where Iverson not only scores but makes it possible for every other Sixer to get open looks.

"Most of the plays we run are for Allen," Brown said. "We know the other team is going to double and triple him, and he'll get other people involved. So I worry what would happen late in games when we need a guy to create a shot or get a shot for someone. We haven't established that."

To be honest, there aren't a whole lot of viable candidates. But as Mutombo said, "We're on a mission to get to the playoffs."

It just won't be very easy.

Mitch Lawrence, who covers the NBA for the New York Daily News, writes a regular NBA column for ESPN.com.