Dikembe Mutombo eagerly approached what became an 85-76 victory over the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers. If the Sixers followed the game plan laid out by coach Larry Brown, the 7-2 center knew he would be an integral factor.

They did. He was.

As disconsolate and uninvolved as Mutombo had been in Monday night's disappointing loss to the Boston Celtics, he got enough touches last night to launch 14 shots, score 10 points and take a game-high 13 rebounds. With Allen Iverson putting up 46 points, Eric Snow doing a solid defensive job against excellent Cavs point guard Andre Miller (14 points, 13 assists), and Corie Blount and Derrick McKey filling in the blanks, the Sixers climbed to 31-29, moving ahead of Orlando for the No. 5 playoff seed in the East.

"The plan was to attack their big men, try to get them in foul trouble early, 'cause we were a little shorthanded,'' Mutombo said. "I was very pleased when coach said we had to go inside tonight.''

The results weren't spectacular, but they were sufficient to keep the Cavs off-balance and unable to simply concentrate on Iverson, who cracked 40 points for the third time in four games. His total was the most by an opponent against the Cavs this season, increased the Sixers' winning streak over Cleveland to 12 and gave the Sixers a 7-1 record when he scores 40 or more.

On a sometimes ragged night when the Cavs missed 10 shots in succession at one point and the Sixers missed nine straight at another, Cleveland coach John Lucas was ejected with 4 minutes, 57 seconds remaining. Lucas insisted he had said nothing to referee Tony Brothers before he was assessed his first technical foul; he drew the second from referee Jack Nies when he animatedly asked why he had gotten the first one.

Through it all, though, Brown saw exactly what he wanted to see; an offense that at least included its center, an effective defense and contributions from Blount as a starter, McKey off the bench and rookie Alvin Jones as an emergency backup for Mutombo.

"Our defense was amazing,'' Brown said. "I've been watching Miller on tape, and I thought Eric did a great job on him. . .We went with two rookies [Jones and Speedy Claxton] that gave us a great lift, and Allen was sensational, really bouncing back [from an 8-for-30 shooting performance against the Celtics], and one of his best defensive games as well.''

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Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers

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