Larry Brown isn't asking for much.

	Iverson's Sixers have had more to celebrate in the last few weeks.

Just a chance to look at his entire team. For more than a game or two, that is.

"But every time I think we're finally going to have everyone together, something unforeseen always happens," the Sixers coach was saying the other day. "I'm still hoping we can get there."

I can think of a few people who never want to see that happen: Brown's coaching peers in the Eastern Conference. Because when it comes down to it, the Sixers are about the last team you'd want to have to face in the playoffs.

The Nets? Let's see what happens in the post-season when the game slows to a halfcourt pace and they're still relying on jumpers. The Bucks? Let me know when they can actually stop someone. The Celtics? Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce have zero playoff experience going for them.

If you had to rank the teams in the East most coaches are going to fear heading into the post-season, Philly's first and Michael Jordan and the Wizards are second.

"I haven't dismissed the Sixers," said New York's Don Chaney. "They have the size. The shooting. The athletic ability. The speed. And they rebound. They have all the ingredients to be a great playoff team."

So far, those ingredients have been together for only three games, all season. That's forced Brown to use nine different lineups. And now Aaron McKie is out with a strained Achilles tendon.

But the Sixers have still managed to take a respectable 22-22 record into Wednesday's game against the Timberwolves. They got side-tracked in New York Tuesday, losing a 78-71 decision on a night when Allen Iverson couldn't find the basket. But the last few weeks, the Sixers have shown signs that they're going to have to be reckoned with in the second half of the season.

"We're playing our best right now," Brown said. "We're playing the right way."

If you know how finicky Brown can be, that's high praise. But look at the last 14 games and you can see why he's so upbeat. After a shaky 12-18 start, in which they spent about a year on the road and rarely had all hands on deck, they've posted a 10-4 mark. That allowed them to creep over the .500 mark for the first time since Dec. 1.

In this stretch, they've recorded wins over the Lakers, Spurs, Celtics, Wizards, Suns, Clippers and Sonics. In the 10 wins, they held opponents to 87.8 ppg, further cementing their standing as the top defensive team in the NBA.

It doesn't hurt that Iverson has been at his best, too. But the team's success goes far deeper than No. 3's recent play.

	“	I haven't dismissed the Sixers. They have the size. The shooting. The athletic ability. The speed. And they rebound. They have all the ingredients to be a great playoff team. ”
		— Knicks coach Chaney

"Everybody looks at the number of shots Iverson takes," Chaney said. "But what they do so well is they rebound the ball and get put-backs. If you can stop them from rebounding, you have a chance to win."

Last spring, no team figured out how to keep the Sixers off the boards until they found themselves staring at the chest of Shaquille O'Neal. Then they couldn't play volleyball on the offensive glass and lost in the Finals in five games.

Some of their role players have changed from last season. Derrick Coleman, a team killer if there ever was one, is the major addition and the biggest question mark. Matt Harpring is also new. Gone are Tyrone Hill and George Lynch, two active board crashers who didn't mind it whenever Iverson hoisted one up.

But Brown's formula for success is the same one the Sixers used to get to their first NBA Finals since 1983. Your typical Philly possession goes something like this: Iverson misses. (He's averaging 27 shots a game, more than double the next Sixer). One of his teammates gets the rebound. Then they convert on a second- or third-chance shot. It wasn't good enough to get past the Lakers in the Finals. But it should be good enough to win the East again.

In the NBA's JV conference, no one has better size than the Sixers. No team is tougher or plays better playoff-style defense on a night-in, night-out basis. No one can match up with Dikembe Mutombo. And the Sixers have played six more road games than home games to date, so the schedule is in their favor in the second half. The farthest west they travel in the final three months is Milwaukee. So they might not catch the Nets, but getting a top-four seed isn't out of the question.

"People talk about the changes they made, but they still have most of their core guys," Latrell Sprewell said. "And when you have size, with someone like Mutombo in the middle, that makes it so much tougher. They're still a very good team."

Where are the flaws? We saw one against the Knicks, when Iverson is missing 19 of 25 shots. When the reigning MVP can't find the hoop, someone else has to step up and make baskets. Even with McKie, the Sixers still lack that second big-time scoring threat.

"We wanted other guys to beat and not let Allen beat us," Sprewell said.

The Knicks weren't the first team to take that approach and won't be the last. With the new defensive rules, it allows teams a better chance of slowing down Iverson. That'll put more pressure on McKie, Eric Snow and the others to make shots.

"It used to be that they could clear a lot of space for Iverson by putting everyone off to the weak side," said one NBA coach. "Now, it's easier to come over with double teams and shut down his passing options. The rules have taken away his operating space."

So finding a way to score is going to be dicey than last year, when every possession was an adventure.

"But we rebound and we defend," Brown said. "And when you do those two things, you can win on the road."

Especially in April, May and June.

Mitch Lawrence, who covers the NBA for the New York Daily News, writes a regular NBA column for ESPN.com.