Iverson has scored a total of 83 points in his last two games, but it's his attire that has become the hot topic of the moment.

Coach Larry Brown says the Sixers have had a dress code since last season's playoffs. Iverson says he has his own.

After the Sixers' 110-105 loss at Orlando on Wednesday night, Iverson vowed: "I'm not going to let anybody tell me what to wear. I'll wear what I want. If [the Sixers] want to fine me for that, so be it."

Yesterday, Iverson appeared to be in a foul mood. And Brown said he was irritated by what he called Iverson's "them-against-me" attitude. The potential for friction between the two was evident.

That, combined with the Sixers' 1-4 record and the way everyone around Iverson now appears compelled to walk on eggshells, leaves the team in troubled straits - even though it gets to face the hapless Chicago Bulls tonight at the First Union Center.

"I haven't said a word to him," said Sixers captain Eric Snow, clearly aware of Iverson's mood. "With everything that's been written and said, I didn't think [talking to him] would be wise right now."

After yesterday's practice, an angered Brown chose to point the finger at reporters.

"You are the guys that brought the damn thing up," Brown said. "You don't even know what our dress code is. I told them to be neat, and that's the deal.

"I'm not worried about it. If I was, I would've addressed it. I haven't seen anybody show up looking like a slob. It didn't have any effect on me. I want us to be unselfish, be professional and be responsible."

According to Snow, the Sixers are not permitted to wear sneakers or shorts on flights, and they must wear sport coats or suits and ties when traveling from hotels to game sites. The rules were relayed by Brown to Snow, Aaron McKie and George Lynch, and Brown left the matter of enforcing those rules to the players.

As of yesterday, Iverson had not been fined for a violation of the rules, despite his having shown up in Orlando on Wednesday without a sport coat.

Iverson erupted Wednesday after seeing an ESPN report that discussed the Sixers' attire. The only picture that flashed across the screen during the report showed Iverson wearing jeans, boots and a diamond necklace. It gave Iverson the impression that the team's dress code had been implemented specifically for him - and that the team had leaked news of the code to the national media.

Brown denied both of those things, saying that he hadn't spoken to anyone about the matter and that the rules had been implemented during last season's playoffs.

A number of players supported Brown's version of events. But at least two others said the rules were aimed at Iverson.

Several people close to Iverson, both on and off the team, said that, initially, Iverson had no problem with the rules. They further maintained that he had happily adhered to the dress code during the playoffs because he was undergoing something of an image transformation.

Iverson wore suits to postgame news conferences during the playoffs. He decided not to renew the contract of bodyguard/friend Terry Royster because he no longer wanted the image of someone who needed a bodyguard.

During the first round of the playoffs, against the Magic, Iverson donned a gray-and-black pinstriped suit and joked about how good he looked compared to Snow, McKie, Lynch and other players.

Given the changes he was making on his own and the ways in which the Sixers chose to use their $71 million guard to market the franchise, Iverson never dreamed that the way he dressed would become such an issue. That may explain the extreme offense he took at the prospect of anyone's forcing him to change his attire.

Brown, whose interest in the way the Sixers dress based in part on the team's 19 scheduled national television appearances for this season, appeared offended, too - albeit for other reasons.

"I don't appreciate him acting like it's a me-against-them thing," Brown said. "But he can dress any way he wants. I don't care. I see some of the outfits he wears. They're clean. They're neat. It doesn't bother me.

"I don't want guys to come to a game in jeans and a T-shirt and sneakers. And I think that's what we're trying to do.

"I've got young kids. I know how young kids dress. If that's what's comfortable to them and that's neat and the players feel that way, I don't have a problem with it.

"Our guys dressed differently in the playoffs than they did during the regular season. I didn't hear anybody object to it. So when you're 1-4, that's the way it goes."

Nevertheless, Brown not only contended that Iverson will follow the rules or "face the consequences," he also said he planned on talking to Iverson about the guard's response to team-implemented rules.

Brown also took a moment to reiterate why he had elected to bench Larry Hughes for all but three minutes of the second half in Orlando.

"[Hughes] played terrible, and he didn't guard," Brown said. "I don't have a problem with guys being upset, but he hasn't guarded anybody the last three games.

"If a guy is playing good, he's going to play. If a guy is not playing good, he's going to sit and somebody else is going to come in. And it's going to continue that way."

With that, Brown stormed into his office at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, where the Sixers have their practice facility. Iverson posed for a two-minute photo shoot, then left the gymnasium in a huff of his own. Hughes seemed oblivious to anything that was going on around him.

The Sixers, a team that is still waiting for Theo Ratliff (ankle) and Matt Geiger (knee) to heal, are losing in myriad ways, and 77 games still remain.

"The only thing we need to be worried about right now is winning basketball games," Snow said. "We shouldn't even be talking about this, man. What we should be talking about is winning games, and we're here talking about dress codes."