Hours after lambasting former 76ers coach Larry Brown on a local morning radio show, Pat Croce, Brown's former boss, didn't shy away from his comments at all.

Reached by telephone last night, Croce, the former Sixers president, repeated what he said on WIP-AM (610). He blasted Brown for getting on Allen Iverson's tardiness at practice, and for "lying" when he said he "never had final say" as vice president of basketball operations in his six-year stint in Philadelphia.

"That statement alone was an insult to Billy King and to me," Croce said, referring to the current Sixers president. "I love Larry. I've always had a good relationship with Larry. But for him to come out and say what he said was completely false. It was wrong."

Croce also said Brown had attempted to miss practices himself.

"I had to call Larry to practice a few times," Croce said. "There were a couple of times I personally had to call him at home to come into work because he didn't want to come. There was a time when I had to address the team and let them know he wouldn't be in because he was contemplating whether or not he was going to quit."