You put yourself on the spot -- and then you deliver. That's what the great ones do. That's what Allen Iverson did -- and there are a couple teams who wish he had kept his mouth shut.

The reigning MVP talked and played like one in two huge wins in a space of 48 hours. The victories over the front-running Nets and the free-falling Raptors came after Iverson mouse-clicked the conference standings into the recycle bin and dutifully proclaimed -- as kings are wont to do -- that the 76ers are the crème de la crème in the Eastern Conference, records be damned.

	Allen Iverson proclaimed the Sixers the East's beast, then beat the Nets, the East's best.

You wanna argue with him? Dismiss him at your own peril. Iverson laid down the gauntlet prior to the Friday visit of the Nets. He then dropped 43 on them in a 110-102 victory, the Sixers' second in as many games against the surprise Atlantic Division leaders. Oh yeah, and he came off the bench in that one because he was disciplined for being late to the morning shootaround. (Didn't you love his comeback? "How do they punish guys who don't start?")

As if to drive home the point once more, Iverson then went up to Canada and scorched the Raptors for 42 points on Sunday in a 96-84 victory. The Sixers have won three straight and five of seven and, well, you can make a case that they are finally getting their scary act together after an occasionally rancorous, trick-or-treat season.

"We're movin' on up," Dikembe Mutombo announced after the win over Toronto.

The Sixers may not quite be mimicking last year's Lakers, but it's hard to miss some of the parallels. This year's Sixers team started slow -- it does not get any more glacial than 0-5 -- and, as recently as three weeks ago, was still under .500. The Sixers also lost seven straight games in December. They're 0-2 against Memphis, for goodness sakes. But they also have only two games remaining against Western Conference opponents, and both of those (Phoenix and Sacramento) are at home.

They've battled a slew of injuries: Iverson, Aaron McKie, Eric Snow and Derrick Coleman have combined to miss 65 games. Those are three starters and the reigning Sixth Man of the Year. Mutombo and Matt Harpring are the only regulars to have not missed a game.

There have been the usual intramural scrapes between Iverson, his teammates and his coach, the never-content Larry Brown. Iverson went off on his teammates only last week, saying that he was shocked that some didn't know the plays. (Hint: there's only one play and that is to get the ball to Allen and get out of the way.)

But now it's the stretch run, and just as the Lakers did last year, the Sixers are starting to come together. That means bad news for anyone in their path. They've still got a solid defensive nucleus and mindset, anchored by the altitudinous Mutombo. They miss George Lynch, but at this time last year he was hurt and Brown was going with three and sometimes four guards on the floor anyway. They've added Derrick McKey, a longtime Brown fave who is known for solid defense and not much else. (He went 25 minutes against Toronto and didn't take a shot.)

This year, there is the maddening Coleman alongside Mutombo, which is both good and bad news. The good news is that Coleman sometimes plays like the complete power forward that he is. The bad news is that he doesn't do it nearly enough and that he tends to bring down teams rather than elevate them. The only time he has been part of a team that won a playoff series was last year -- and the Hornets wanted nothing to do with him.

But as long as Iverson is healthy and committed, as he is now, the Sixers move to a very different beat. And when they do, they're very tough to beat.

	You can toss the November and December performances out with the trash. The 76ers survived those two painful stretches and now are back, reasonably intact, and ready to inflict some serious damage on their conference foes.

It may be too late to catch the Nets, but there's plenty of time to make a move in the division and conference in which you could envision the Sixers as a No. 3 or No. 4 seed. A victory over the Celtics on Monday would move the Sixers into a tie for fourth place in the conference and second in the division. The Pistons, meanwhile, still have to make a western swing, and the Bucks finish with eight of 12 on the road, including one in Philly.

The Sixers also have an enormous advantage in that three of the present playoff contenders are all first-timers: Boston, New Jersey and Detroit. This is all new to them, although the Celtics made a fleeting run at No. 8 last year. This is old news to Iverson & Co.

In other words, you can toss the November and December performances out with the trash. The 76ers survived those two painful stretches and now are back, reasonably intact, and ready to inflict some serious damage on their conference foes. Celtics coach Jim O'Brien, for one, knows what he's facing. He doesn't even look at the standings when preparing for a game. He goes by what he's seen in the last five games, and the Sixers have shown him plenty.

"That's a tough group," he said of the Sixers.

The Eastern Conference has been tough on repeat champions in the post-Michael era. The Bulls, of course, blew everything apart and still haven't recovered. The Knicks are now hopelessly overpaid and mismatched and miscast to the point of disbelief. The Pacers have been a .500 team for the last two years, despite what many feel is a .600 roster.

The Sixers appeared to be going in a similar direction. They've already lost two more games this season than they did all of last season. But after a Feb. 17 loss to the Pacers, a game Iverson missed, Philly has ripped off five wins in seven games. The Celtics, Cavaliers and Pacers come to Philadelphia this week, presenting a chance for the boys to move on up even more.

Iverson called it last week. He said publicly what a lot of people are saying privately: The road to the NBA Finals still goes through Philadelphia until he and his teammates say otherwise. Then he went out and showed why everyone else in the conference has reason to be concerned. That's what the great ones do.

Peter May, who covers the NBA for the Boston Globe, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.