Iverson-Brown reunion has golden goal

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — One of basketball's most celebrated Odd Couples is back together.

Larry Brown and Allen Iverson, the unbending coach and the free-spirited point guard, never really got along in Philadelphia. But a year after they parted ways, they're combining forces on the U.S. Olympic basketball team and finding that maybe what they had with the 76ers really wasn't so bad.

"To me, he's the best coach in the world," Iverson said.

Those words almost seem laughable considering the six tumultuous seasons the men spent together in Philly.

They were constantly at odds, Brown chafing at Iverson's penchant for dogging it in practices or missing them altogether. The coach also felt Iverson was selfish at times and didn't take coaching well, a tough trait to ignore for a man who loves to teach.

Shortly after the 76ers lost to Detroit 4-2 in a playoff series to close their 2003 season, Brown resigned and took a job with the Pistons. Iverson showed up to the arena only 30 minutes before the game that ended Philadelphia's season, saying he was late because of a flat tire. Some say that might have been the last straw for the coach.

Over the ensuing months, they mended their relationship. Brown got his NBA title with the Pistons in June. Iverson didn't find things much better in Philly, where the Sixers missed the playoffs, and his relationship with interim coach Chris Ford — who came on after Brown's replacement, Randy Ayers, got fired — was actually worse than it was with Brown.

"A lot of it was mostly me, not being mature at times," Iverson said. "He knows the game 1,000 times more than I do. I always took criticism that he gave me the wrong way when, all the time, he was trying to help me."

But Brown concedes he wasn't perfect either. The game has changed since he first coached in the NBA with the Nuggets in the 1970s. The coach's word — even a coach as good as Brown — is no longer sacrosanct in a league filled with multimillionaire stars with multimillionaire egos. He admits he was overbearing at times.

"You don't always do the right thing by your players," Brown said. "I could have changed some things early on in our relationship that maybe would have helped him."