When New Jersey Nets coach Lawrence Frank was asked before Tuesday night’s game about the Sixers’ recent successes he was off and running.

He talked about Andre Miller having a career year and Andre Iguodala continuing to improve and filling up the boxscore. He talked about a good mix of veterans and youth.

Then he touched on something that might surprise some Sixers’ fans who love to hate on Sam Dalembert.

“Dalembert’s an unsung hero in my eyes because he impacts the game on both ends. He gets them extra possessions on the offensive boards and he takes away possessions, not just with shot blocking, but his ability to impact different things. They can switch with him. He’s a very versatile, long defender who’s definitely impacted the games that we’ve had.”

Before Tuesday night’s game, the Sixers and Nets had met three times this season. In those games, Dalembert averaged 10 points, 14.3 rebounds and 3.3 blocks. Last night he added 15 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks.

Sam is one of only 10 players (among qualifiers) to average a double-double for the season with 10.6 points and 10.2 rebounds.

“That’s an honor,” Dalembert said when told of Frank’s remarks. “Unsung hero – I feel like one of those epic movies that I like so much. You always have one of the guys besides the main character is always out there making extra things happen, being a little bit of a pain in the butt, like a devil in a moustache fighting. It’s like, ‘Damn, this guy is annoying.’ When you’re a defensive player, you feel like you have to give extra possessions. Offensively, I just take whatever they give me. I try to get a little tip dunk – just try to give extra points. Defensively, just try to give extra possessions, which really helps us.”