Brown Has No Regrets Over Key Loss

Coach Larry Brown shrugged off a loss to the last-place Chicago Bulls on the last day of the regular season. It’s haunting the Philadelphia 76ers now.

The 76ers, making their first trip to the NBA Finals in 18 years, would have had home-court advantage over the Lakers if they had beaten Phil Jackson’s old team on April 18.

Instead, Allen Iverson and Dikembe Mutombo sat out and Brown rested most of his other starters to prepare for the playoffs. It took a late 10-0 run for the Bulls, who finished with a league-worst 15-67 record, to beat Philadelphia’s reserves, 92-86.

The loss tied the 76ers with the Lakers at 56-26.

The Lakers got the home-court edge on a tiebreaker--better record against the opposite conference. As a result, Game 1 of the NBA Finals is at Staples Center on Wednesday night.

After the loss to Chicago, Brown said he wasn’t looking ahead to the finals, didn’t want to risk injury to any of his key players and was more concerned with getting out of the East.

Brown said Monday he doesn’t have any regrets about the way he handled the Bulls’ game.

“I didn’t rest the guys just to rest them,” Brown said. “They were legitimately hurt. I’m not smart enough to plan that far ahead. If I had to do it all over again, I’d do it the same way.”

Iverson didn’t play against the Bulls because he had been placed on the injured list because of bursitis in his right elbow, an injury that continues to bother him and forces him to wear a protective sleeve on his arm. Mutombo had a sprained toe and missed his only game since coming to the 76ers in a trade on Feb. 22.

Swingman Aaron McKie said the 76ers aren’t worried about opening the series in Los Angeles because they’re used to having a disadvantage. Philadelphia has overcome numerous injuries throughout the season, including a broken foot that has kept forward George Lynch out of the last 10 games.

“Them having the home court is just another adverse situation and we’re motivated by that,” McKie said.

Although Brown has not been to the NBA Finals before, he has coached underdogs.

At UCLA in 1980, he led a Bruin team that had four freshmen among its top six players to the NCAA title game.

In 1988, his Kansas team won the NCAA championship and instantly was dubbed “Danny [Manning] and the Miracles.”

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Going against the grain, Milwaukee Buck guard Ray Allen likes the 76ers’ chances.

“We talked about the Western Conference being so dominant, but Philadelphia has a chance to bring the trophy back home to the Eastern Conference,” Allen said. “I’m supporting them the rest of the way.”