PHILADELPHIA —
Given the chance to steal one moment of glory for himself, to acknowledge his hot start to this season with a small pat on the back, Will Barton instead crinkled it up and tossed it away.
Praising himself? That's not a Will Barton thing.
"I'm doing OK," he said.
I laughed.
"No, I'm serious," he said.
So was I.
Will Barton is playing the best basketball of his career, a whirling-dervish of kinetic energy that used to frighten his coach, Michael Malone, who used to have no idea what was about to happen when the ball was in the young player's hands.