THE 76ERS' destiny is in their own hands. If they handle it with greater care than they handled last night's free throws, they still have a chance.
In the light of their 82-72 victory over visiting Miami, they can shrug merrily at their 27-for-46 performance at the foul line. But Larry Brown pulled up a chair before the game and drove home the importance of not wallowing in the disappointment of Monday night's loss to the Portland Trail Blazers or the negativity that flourished in the aftermath.

"I talked to them a long time before the game, not about basketball,'' the coach said. "Billy [general manager Billy King] and I assembled this team; I would like to have had it happen a lot sooner, [but] I haven't lost confidence in those guys and their character.

"But we've got to truly be a team. That's the thing that's really important. We tried to show that tonight.''

This was a night when the Sixers' grit and determination allowed them to win in spite of themselves. They won for just the fourth time in the last 10 games, tying the Indiana Pacers for No. 6 in the NBA East playoff seedings. They did it with just two players - Allen Iverson (31 points) and Matt Harpring (18) - scoring in double figures.

They did it despite seeing Iverson hobble off with 1minute, 11seconds remaining after bruising his left quadriceps in a collision with the Heat's Eddie Jones.

"Basically, the playoffs have started,'' guard Eric Snow said. "There are five or six teams competing for three or four spots [in the East's eight-team postseason field]. If that's the situation, it's already started.

"Everybody knew we were down, upset. But we fought, we regrouped, put ourselves back in the top eight. Win a game, you're in; lose a game, you're out. If we win our games, everybody else can knock each other off. We have to take it game by game, practice by practice, stay focused."