MVP Runaway Is Special to Iverson

Allen Iverson sat in a chair, smiled and invited his coach to sit in his lap.

With that, Larry Brown jumped into Iverson’s arms and embraced the NBA’s most valuable player.

Iverson was honored by the league Tuesday after leading the Philadelphia 76ers to the best record in the East and their best season in 16 years.

“It’s special because of everything I went through last summer,” Iverson said. “I had to look in the mirror and see things I didn’t do right as a person or a player. I promised myself when I look in the mirror after this season, I’ll know I did everything right.”

Iverson got 1,121 points to beat out San Antonio’s Tim Duncan (706 points) and the Lakers’ Shaquille O’Neal, last year’s winner, who had 578 points from the panel of sportswriters and broadcasters in the United States and Canada.

Joined by family, friends and several teammates at an afternoon news conference, Iverson said he wondered if he’d ever reach this point.

“I didn’t know because of all the baggage I came here with,” Iverson said. “I was 20 years old and people wanted me to be 30. I had no space for error. But I never stopped and worked on all the things people said I couldn’t do and now I’m the MVP of the league. It’s something I always wanted.”

Iverson led the league in scoring for the second time in three years, with an average of 31.1 points; was first in steals (2.51); and tied for first in minutes (42.0).

Iverson is the first 76er to win the award since Moses Malone in 1982-83, the last year Philadelphia won a championship. Wilt Chamberlain and Julius Erving also won the award for the 76ers.

In addition to Iverson, 76er center Dikembe Mutombo was the defensive player of the year award and Aaron McKie won the sixth man award.

Seattle SuperSonic forward Ruben Patterson was sentenced to a year in jail with all but 15 days suspended under a modified plea to an attempted rape charge.

Patterson, 25, wept as he entered the plea in Seattle, under which he did not admit guilt but agreed a jury might convict him.

Patterson was accused of attempting to rape the family’s nanny in September.

The maximum punishment for attempted third-degree rape, a gross misdemeanor, is one year in jail and a $5,000 fine.

Madison Square Garden President Dave Checketts resigned in New York after another disappointing season for the arena’s two main tenants--the NBA’s Knicks and the NHL’s Rangers.

Checketts, 45, who joined the Knicks as president in 1991, had been Garden president since 1995.

James Dolan, chairman of the Garden and president and chief executive officer of Cablevision, said he would oversee Garden activities in the interim. Checketts will be retained as a consultant.

Saying he has a strained muscle instead of a reported torn left triceps muscle, Antonio Davis said he expects to start at center for Toronto when the Raptors’ series against the 76ers resumes tonight. . . . John Hammond, a Clipper assistant coach, returned to the Detroit Pistons as their player personnel director. Hammond, previously an assistant in Detroit, replaces Brendan Suhr.

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MVP Voting

Results of the voting for the NBA most-valuable-player award, as selected by a panel of the media from the United States and Canada, on a 10-7-5-3-1 basis:

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Player Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Total Allen Iverson Philadelphia 93 20 9 2 0 1,121 Tim Duncan San Antonio 18 41 34 21 6 706 Shaquille O’Neal Lakers 7 26 45 29 14 578 Chris Webber Sacramento 5 29 27 39 16 521 Kevin Garnett Minnesota 1 5 4 17 35 151 Tracy McGrady Orlando - 2 3 6 17 64 Karl Malone Utah - - - 4 9 21 Jason Kidd Phoenix - - - 3 9 18 Kobe Bryant Lakers - - 1 - 6 11 David Robinson San Antonio - 1 - - 1 8 Ray Allen Milwaukee - - - 2 1 7 Vince Carter Toronto - - - 1 4 7 Paul Pierce Boston - - 1 - - 5 Jerry Stackhouse Detroit - - - - 3 3

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Note: Dallas’ Michael Finley, Miami’s Anthony Mason and Utah’s John Stockton each finished with one fifth-place vote.