Allen Iverson felt the love as soon as he parked at the Wachovia Center.

He waved to the fans who waited outside in the Philadelphia cold to greet him, and turned a routine pregame warmup into a scene straight out of a red carpet arrival.

Fans lined the court to take snapshots of a picture they thought they might never see again _ Iverson in a No. 3 jersey getting ready to play for the Philadelphia 76ers.

Iverson was in his basketball home Monday night and Philly's first sellout crowd of the season roared to let him know how much they appreciated having the one-time franchise great back on their side.

"That was the best part of the night, just hearing these people's voices all over again," Iverson said.

If his homecoming game had a familiar emotional tug for Iverson, so did the losing.

Iverson scored 11 points on 4-for-11 shooting and had six assists in Philadelphia's 10th straight loss, 93-83 to Denver on Monday night. The Sixers were on an 11-game losing streak the day Iverson was traded in 2006.

"I had chill-bumps running all through my body the whole game," Iverson said. "It just felt good to be back."

Yes, the A.I. Show played again in Philly.

And the early returns have 76ers fans in love with the revival as much as the original.

"I just felt like I was back home," Iverson said. "It was deja vu. Just a real good feeling. The fans made it hard on me because they made me more nervous than I already was."

Iverson took a familiar route to the Wachovia Center for his first game since returning to the Sixers last week. He pulled in to the player's parking lot at 5:55 p.m., a little more than an hour before tip.

He hit the court for warmups to the sound of fans screaming his name and holding "Welcome Home" signs. Iverson sank shot after shot to the delight of the crowd and broke out in a wide smile as they erupted in cheers.

Iverson was edited out of highlights and banished from the team in the week leading up to his acrimonious 2006 trade to Denver. But he got his own greatest hits montage on Monday and a sellout crowd of 20,664 never stopped cheering him on.

There was an NBA finals electricity in the arena for a team that hasn't won a playoff series since 2003 and was 29th in attendance. The Sixers averaged a measly 11,965 fans in their first eight home games.

Iverson kept them in their seats even as Denver pulled away and received a standing ovation when he left in the fourth quarter.

He was introduced fourth, bowed and kissed the logo at midcourt, then joined his teammates for a little dance. Iverson gave a friendly point to former coach George Karl and hugged ex-teammate Carmelo Anthony.