Brown Wins Coach of the Year

Larry Brown was the overwhelming choice for the NBA`s Coach of the Year Award on Wednesday after leading the Philadelphia 76ers to their best record in 16 years. "Everywhere he`s been, he gets the job done," Sixers guard Eric Snow said. "He`s the best coach I played for."

Brown, winning the award for the first time in his 18-year NBA coaching career, received 85 votes from a 124-member media panel. Rick Adelman of the Sacramento Kings finished second with 11 votes and Don Nelson of the Dallas Mavericks was third with 8. No other coach received more than 5 votes.

The Sixers, who opened the Eastern Conference finals with a 93-85 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night, are the first team to win four NBA awards in one season.

Allen Iverson was selected Most Valuable Player, Aaron McKie won the Sixth Man of the Year and Dikembe Mutombo was chosen the Defensive Player of the Year. The only awards Philadelphia didn`t get were Rookie of the Year (Orlando`s Mike Miller) and Most Improved Player (Orlando`s Tracy McGrady).

Brown, in his fourth season in Philadelphia, has guided the Sixers to the playoffs three straight years after an eight-year absence. He was coach of the year three times in four seasons in the ABA, but had never won the award in the NBA.

"He deserves it," Bucks coach George Karl said. "He`s turned Iverson into a stable energy player. I wish my son played as hard as he plays. If everybody in the NBA played with his intensity, the league wouldn`t have any problems."

Brown, who last summer considered taking the head coach`s job at North Carolina, his alma mater, led the Sixers to a franchise-best 10-0 start, a franchise-record 13 straight road victories and the top spot in the East.

He recorded his 1,000th professional victory on Feb. 16, and coached the East to a victory in the All-Star game.

"I don`t care about that stuff," Brown said about winning the award.

Before the season, Brown mended his contentious relationship with Iverson, who lived up to his promise of becoming a team player. Despite numerous injuries, Brown led the Sixers to a 56-26 record, matching his best winning percentage as a coach.

"Any team that is as good defensively as his team is, you know has a good coach behind it, because it takes a foundation, a philosophy and teaching to get a team to commit to playing defense," Karl said.

Brown has posted winning records in 25 of his 29 seasons as a head coach on the professional and college levels. He has finished first in his division six times and has been to the Eastern Conference finals three times.

Last summer, Brown was an assistant coach on the gold medal-winning U.S. team at the Sydney Olympics. He is the only person to play and coach in the Olympics.

(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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Author: 6 ABC - Action News (AP)