Already hobbled by an injured tailbone, Allen Iverson was in jeopardy of missing the final minutes of Game 4 because of the blood that was oozing from his mouth -- courtesy of an elbow from Ray Allen. He got cleaned up, kept his mouth shut to hide the bleeding from the officials, and stayed in the game.

Already torn between his father's recent stroke and his team's pursuit of an NBA title, Tyrone Hill came close to abandoning the Sixers to begin a bedside vigil in the intensive care unit of a Cincinnati hospital. He stayed with the team and, through his personal crisis, had his best game of the playoffs.

Already criticized because he missed 10 of 11 shots in a Game 3 loss, Eric Snow found himself with a wide-open opportunity with 2:20 left in the tight game, a shot his team desperately needed. Without hesitation, he drilled the shot from 12 feet out.

They are battered and bloodied, but the Sixers have the one intangible that will always keep them in a game: a tremendous will to win by any means necessary. And after losing homecourt advantage for the third playoff series in a row, the Sixers' 89-83 win in Milwaukee on Monday means they only need to win out on their homecourt to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1983.

In a series where three scorers are suppose to be better than one, Iverson again shattered that myth with another gutsy performance. Playing all but one minute of Game 4, after missing Game 3 to rest his sore hip, Iverson scored a game-high 28 points, had eight assists and was the most dominant player on the floor despite spending much of the game sprawled on the court.

And for those who want to criticize Iverson because of another poor shooting night (he was 10 of 32 from the field), forget it.

"A lot of times, for me, a missed shot is not a bad thing," Iverson said. "At times if I can get two or three people to pay attention to me, all I have to do is put the ball on the rim, a lot of my time my teammates are there to get it."

That's why Dikembe Mutombo can grab seven offensive rebounds. And the threat of Iverson is also why Aaron McKie, Snow and Hill can make huge fourth-quarter baskets (the three had one bucket apiece over the final 12 minutes, but each shot was huge).

Hill's been understandably distraught by the news that his 66-year-old father had a stroke that complicated his diabetic condition. But Hill put aside his personal anguish to play 37 minutes on Monday, hitting seven of 14 shots for 14 points, after making just four of 19 baskets and scoring 15 total points in the first three games of the series. Hill didn't travel with the team to Philly after Monday's game. He was scheduled to fly to Cincinnati on Tuesday to spend the day at his father's bedside, with hopes of rejoining the team in time for Wednesday's Game 5.

"I want to be with my family, but these guys are my family too," said Hill, obviously pained by the crisis back home. "I'm on the phone with my family until two or three o'clock every morning, and I'm dependent on them right now. My dad's not conscious, but I know that he would have wanted me to play."

Snow was distraught on Saturday, but for a different reason. He shouldered the blame for the 80-74 loss in Game 3 after hitting just one of 11 shots. On Monday, Snow had made just one of his seven shots when he got a pass from McKie with 2:20 left and the Sixers leading, 80-75.

"I told Ty and Eric that [with Iverson back], they would have open looks," said coach Larry Brown. "They just had to have the confidence to shoot it."

As for Iverson, fans should no longer be surprised by his toughness. On a day when he was shoved, banged, elbowed and flung to the ground, the injured Iverson continued to battle. Eleven of his points came in the fourth quarter when his team needed him most.

"It took a lot out of me," an obviously fatigued Iverson said. "I was struggling, but I knew I had to fight through it."

Whether he's struggling or on fire, the Sixers will always win or lose with Iverson shooting. That can't be said for the Bucks and their big guns on Monday. In the fourth quarter Glenn Robinson played eight minutes and took four shots (scoreless over the final 8:42), Allen played 12 minutes and took three shots (he was scoreless over the final 10:26) and Sam Cassell played 10 minutes and took two shots. When it's the playoffs, and your team has to win on its homecourt to reach the NBA Finals, your best players have to go down shooting. Robinson and Allen have yet to learn that.

So as the Bucks wasted a tremendous opportunity, the Sixers managed to dodge another bullet. Having Iverson miss Game 3 for an extra two days rest proved to be a masterful move, as the Sixers reclaimed homecourt advantage.

As for the Bucks? Perhaps they'll learn enough from Monday's loss to come back and win this series.

Should the Bucks lose the series? They will have gotten a lesson in toughness from a team that has already defied tremendous odds, on and off the court, during these playoffs.

Jerry Bembry is covering the NBA playoffs for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at jerry.bembry@espnmag.com.