IN A PERVERSE WAY, this was Allen Iverson's tribute to Wilt Chamberlain.
On the eve of the 40th anniversary of Chamberlain's historic 100-point performance for the Philadelphia Warriors against the New York Knicks in Hershey, Pa., Iverson showed up late for the 76ers' morning shootaround at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

The result? Coach Larry Brown held the NBA's leading scorer out of the starting lineup for the first 5 minutes, 14 seconds. Then Iverson barraged the New Jersey Nets with 43 points in a 110-102 victory that improved the Sixers' record to 29-28 and kept them in sixth place in the Eastern Conference playoff seedings.

When then-Los Angeles Lakers coach Bill Sharman introduced the concept of a morning shootaround on game days, Chamberlain politely said he would be available once a day, the shootaround or the game.

Chamberlain, the massive 7-1 Hall of Fame center, the only player for whom the game's rules were changed, could do that. When Iverson showed up late yesterday morning, Brown inserted Raja Bell in the lineup.

"Tonight I was just fighting for the Sixth Man of the Year award," Iverson said after hitting 15 of 30 shots, pumping in 17 of his team's final 21 points of the first half and committing just three turnovers in 43 minutes for his sixth performance of the season of 40 points or more.

"I broke a team rule. I was late to shootaround. You break a rule, you've got to pay for it. I accept what they did; it's time to move on. I wonder what you do with a player who doesn't start and comes late; what's his punishment? I don't know, I guess that rule was made for me."

In a bizarre development, Brown chose last night to break a rule, too. He drew a technical foul from referee Bernie Fryer with 4:38 remaining in the second quarter, then committed a no-no when he walked up the sideline and yelled at referee Sean Corbin, "We haven't won a game with that bleep-bleep all year," referring to Fryer.

The second technical was Brown's third of the season and automatically brought his first ejection of the season.

(Unofficial records maintained by the Daily News showed that, before last night, the Sixers were 0-4 in games Fryer worked, two at home.)

With assistant Randy Ayers in charge the rest of the way, the Sixers completed the first half shooting 74.3 percent from the floor, one-tenth of a percent from matching the franchise record for a half.

They finished the evening shooting a season-high 60.6 percent, handing out a season-high 27 assists, leading by as many as 25 points and leaving Nets point guard Jason Kidd - a solid MVP candidate - an ineffectual 4-for-12 from the floor, with 11 points and nine assists that made no impact whatsoever.

That set the stage for the Sixers' game tomorrow afternoon in Toronto, against a sliding Raptors team that has dropped 10 in a row, but has beaten the Sixers five straight.

"They've lost 10 straight, they've beaten us five straight, they're probably feeling good right now," Sixers point guard Eric Snow deadpanned.

The Sixers would feel better if Aaron McKie, who did win last season's Sixth Man award, could play tomorrow. McKie sat out for the 12th time in the last 15 games with ligament damage and a bone bruise around the area of his left ankle suffered Jan. 25.

"Every time there's drama around the 76ers, we come out and play well," Snow said after distributing a season-high 13 assists.

Drama? Monday night, Iverson said some of his teammates didn't know the plays, and Brown said that, despite going over things a thousand times, they still didn't properly attack a zone. Before Wednesday night's victory over Miami, Iverson and center Dikembe Mutombo got in each other's faces, with Mutombo saying he didn't like the finger-pointing. Thursday, Iverson said that was never his intention, that he isn't that type of person, and that reporters blew the situation out of proportion.

Oh, Iverson also said the Nets had the best record in the East (now 38-19), but the Sixers were the best team. Still, Iverson said last night's victory "wasn't a statement game or anything."

"By now, if we're not confident, we can't finish the rest of the these games," Iverson said. "I think our confidence level was already up; [the victory] just makes it that much better. I don't know if anybody in the East wants to play us in the first round. Everybody will probably accept the challenge, but I don't think anybody wants to play us."

Psychologically, they appeared to be the same as ever.

"We've been saying that if we get the chance to sneak in the playoffs, we're going to be trouble for anybody," Mutombo said. "Anybody trying to go all the way to the end here will have to go through us."

But Mutombo diplomatically declined to bite when asked about Iverson's arriving late for the shootaround.

"Bill Russell didn't practice [when he played for the Boston Celtics]," Mutombo said, redirecting the conversation. "He stretched, but that was all. But that was way back, at the beginning of the league. A lot of things have changed."