PHILADELPHIA -They have trophies for the MVP in Allen Iverson, the Sixth Man of the Year in Aaron McKie, the Defensive Player of the Year in Dikembe Mutombo and Coach of the Year when Larry Brown earned that honor yesterday. But the Sixers no doubt would trade all that hardware in for NBA championship rings.

And tonight, they’ll take the next step toward that lofty goal as they seek a 2-0 lead over the Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals. But yesterday was a day to celebrate Brown’s honor, received after leading the Sixers to their best record in 16 years. And when Brown was named as the overwhelming choice, it became the first time any franchise won those four major awards.

“My players here helped change me,” said Brown, who admitted that the Sixers were probably his last choice to coach when he observed them as an outsider when he was with Indiana. “I learned so much from Allen. I don’t think I’m slighting other players when I say this, that I learned so much from being around him.

“There were times I didn’t know where he was coming from. I don’t think I handled it very well, but to see his growth and development and now to hear people talking about him as one of the best players in the league, it is a tremendous honor to coach him.”

Helping Brown celebrate his award was his coaching hero, Dean Smith the North Carolina legend, who flew in from Florida to be with his former pupil.

“What a great honor this is for Larry. He’s a born coach,” said Smith, who has another former pupil, George Karl, facing Brown from the Milwaukee sidelines.

“He deserved it,” Iverson said regarding Brown’s first NBA Coach of the Year selection (he was a three-time winner in the ABA). “He’s helped me so much on the court, but he’s also helped me so much dealing with things off of it.”

And on the court, of course, Iverson has been the thrust behind Philadelphia’s season which has included the best record in the East plus playoff series triumphs against Indiana and Toronto. Iverson scored 34 points, despite a shaky shooting effort – 13-of-35, including misses on his first nine attempts – in Game 1. Iverson has repeatedly praised Brown and his teammates throughout the season. Yesterday, he gave a bit of a dig toward Karl. Iverson recalled how Karl congratulated him after winning the All-Star MVP honor but said Mutombo was more deserving.

“He said ‘great game, but Dikembe should have won the award,’ ” Iverson said. “Then I pick up the paper and he’s trashing Dikembe and it made me wonder what he really thinks. But I don’t get into name-calling. It takes a lot of the fun out of the game for me.’

The Milwaukee coach had stated prior to the series that he did not think Mutombo would be that much of a factor because the Bucks are a perimeter-oriented team. The Sixers, naturally, took it as an unforgivable slight. Mutombo promptly went out in the Sixers’ 93-85 Game 1 victory Tuesday night and positively dominated inside, hauling in 18 rebounds and serving as an impregnable obstacle in the paint.