After notching three triple-doubles at the University of Arizona a year ago, one thing Andre Iguodala wanted to do was get his first one in the pros.

He can check that off his to-do list after posting the first triple-double by a Sixers player in over two years in the team’s 107-84 win over Detroit on March 23. Iguodala had 10 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds, marking the first triple-double for the 76ers since Eric Snow had 22 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists against Memphis on Feb. 26, 2003.

Iguodala finished off the feat in the waning minutes of the game. With the Sixers enjoying a comfortable lead, Iguodala had been taken out of the game. But teammates Marc Jackson and Matt Barnes, who both knew Iguodala was close, alerted Sixers Head Coach Jim O’Brien to the fact, and Iguodala was put back into the game.

The accomplishment was a little bit of a relief to Iguodala.

“It was kind of like, finally,” he said. “That was always something I wanted to do, was just get a triple-double in the NBA, and now I’ve got one. But I wasn’t really trying to.”

Iguodala’s 10th rebound would have come slightly earlier if not for the aggressive play of Samuel Dalembert. At one point, Dalembert leapt over Iguodala for a rebound that would have completed Iguodala's triple-double.

“Sammy didn’t know,” Iguodala said. “He was going after rebounds, and that’s what he’s supposed to do, so I wasn’t mad at him. But it was kind of funny. I was like, ‘Sammy, what you doing?’ He was the only one who didn’t know.”

Iguodala’s laid-back style showed again after the game, as he acknowledged the accomplishment but was quick to give more credit to the win. But his teammates were quick to give him the credit.

“At this point, I really don’t think he understands how special that is,” said Sixers guard Aaron McKie. “You can go down the list of great players that took a long time to get a triple-double, but that says a lot about his game. He’s going to be a great player in this league. He still has a long way to go, but he’s learning on the job. For him to come out here after two years in college and get a triple-double against a great defensive team - it says a lot about him.”

Allen Iverson also had plenty of praise for the other A.I.

“That's just him, that's who he is as a player,” Iverson said. “’Dre does it all for us. When he comes into the game he's not just concentrating on one aspect of the game, he's concentrating on our overall game. That's why you see him getting assists, rebounds, steals, and scoring the ball. He can do a lot for us, and the scariest thing about the whole situation is that he is only a rookie. There is no telling how good he's going to get. I just hope that I can be some influence to him on the development to his game. The rest of his teammates will share some of their wisdom about the league and showing him the ins and outs of the game but even without all that he's doing fine by himself, and I take my hat off to him.”

O’Brien said there are a number of things a player needs in order to accomplish the triple-double.

“[It’s] the ability to drive the basketball, an unselfish mentality, strength to rebound the basketball, and obviously you have to score double figures,” O’Brien said. “I think guys who get triple doubles are so multi-dimensional that it enables them to do so many different things that it puts them in a position sometimes to get it.”

To O’Brien, the triple-double was icing on the cake as far as the excellent season that the rookie has had so far.

“He never seems to blink,” O’Brien said. “He never gets down on himself, and he always brings a very consistent mental outlook to the locker room. I’ve been pleasantly surprised that he’s been able to hold up from the concentration standpoint. [The triple-double is] the first of, I hope, many for that young man.”