PHILADELPHIA (AP) Allen Iverson insists it's no big deal. Larry Brown isn't happy with his star player, but doesn't expect things to change.

No matter who is right or wrong, it's easy to see who loses in the latest spat between Iverson and his coach.

Once again, Iverson and Brown emerged from a meeting Monday saying nice things about each other, but giving no indication their rocky relationship will change.

Appearances aside, Iverson and Brown seem to have added to the rift that threatens to derail a young team on the rise. The script is all too familiar for Iverson, whose pursuit of recognition as the best player in the league has again been eclipsed by controversy.

``Once you throw my name in the mix with something negative, I mean it just explodes,'' said Iverson, who has a deep thigh bruise and hasn't played since exchanging words with Brown on Friday night against Cleveland.

``That's what y'all need to sell papers. That's what y'all need for people to look at your show or whatever. Y'all need that energy. Y'all need that negativity.''

Iverson did not practice and is not expected to play tonight against Milwaukee. He was on court for a brief shootaround at the end of the team's workout at a suburban college, then talked with Brown for 20 to 30 minutes before both emerged to discuss their latest attempt at a truce.

``It was a great meeting,'' Iverson said. ``And I don't think it was a meeting called for what went on with the last game. That's something that's been going on ever since coach Brown got here.''

That's the one issue on which Iverson and Brown agree.

``Every time I've taken Allen out since I've been here, I've had the same response,'' Brown said. ``And I understand. He just wants to play. He doesn't understand how it affects maybe his teammates or me. ... I don't think it's going to change.''

Brown also had words with Iverson's bodyguard after practice Monday. The coach kicked Terry Royster out of the locker room after the Cleveland game.

Iverson did not play the opening 2:03 of the second quarter against the Cavaliers after going 0-for-7 in the first quarter. When Brown told Iverson to go back into the game, Iverson, according to courtside reporters, muttered, ``It's about time you put me back in,'' and used an obscenity.

On Monday, Iverson denied he cursed Brown.

``I'm looking at different things on TV and in the paper, and they're saying things that I didn't even say,'' Iverson said.

Brown wouldn't recount the exchange, but said there was a ``second response'' from Iverson when the coach tried to put him back in the game.

``I know him, I know his response,'' Brown said. ``And it's not something I normally take offense with. I did at the time. I think I had a right to.''

Iverson played for two weeks after hurting his right thigh in a collision with the Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal on March 19. He told the trainer he couldn't play in the second half against Cleveland, and the 76ers lost 85-80 without him.

Iverson skipped the team's one-game road trip to Toronto on Sunday, and the 76ers lost 97-82 -- their second straight loss and seventh in nine games as they plummet out of the playoff picture.

Iverson said his leg stiffened when Brown sat him back down against the Cavaliers. Rick Mahorn denied a report that he and other 76ers players had to talk Iverson out of leaving the arena at halftime of the Cleveland game.

``It was nothing like that,'' Mahorn said. ``It was just us corralling the wagons together and saying, `We're all together for the long haul.' It's nothing where anybody's better than the other person. We all have to take care of our jobs.''

How long Brown and Iverson can coexist this way is the biggest question facing the team. Since Brown was hired last year, they've quarreled about playing time, coaching style and missed practices.

Iverson signed a $70.9 million, six-year contract in January, proclaiming past differences with Brown over.

Obviously, they're not.

``If y'all think that Larry Brown and myself are not going to have any altercations, I mean that's crazy,'' Iverson said. ``That's ridiculous.''