NBA FINALS 2001 SCENE: DUO IN L.A. GARB GET MANY A BARB.

Byline: Michael A. Anastasi Sports Editor 

PHILADELPHIA - Marijuana wafted through the air, beer was plentiful and everywhere, the metal rock and hip hop were loud, and 3,217 people wore Allen Iverson jerseys.

Amid this crowd and cacophony outside First Union Center on Wednesday stood Drew Matich, Lakers fan.

Matich, from Glendale, is a television producer who epitomizes the evil that is Los Angeles, a Hollywood big shot who dares to wear a Lakers uniform in the family room of the Sixers' house. At least that's how offended Philadelphia fans saw it.

Matich, 36, was accompanied by his friend John Dode, from the South Bay, who also was clad in Lakers garb. As they made their way through the crowd, the pair was derided with chants of ``Beat L.A.! Beat L.A.!'' which evolved into ``L.A. (stinks)! L.A. (stinks),'' which quickly degraded to a rather threatening serenade in which Matich and Dode were repeatedly, and unfavorably, characterized as body orifices. And they weren't being called bigmouths.

At that point, the two began to run and objects began to fly.

``Scoreboard, baby,'' Matich said coolly in response, or at least as coolly as one can while sprinting through an angry crowd.

Down the way, Lakers fans Camille and Cappizolo Austin, from Washington, seemed to be dealing with the scene more easily.

``We're getting hollered at, yelled at, booed. But it's all cool,'' said Cappizolo, clad in a Lakers jersey. ``If Kobe can handle it, so can we.''

--Buss arrives: Lakers owner Jerry Buss arrived at First Union Center in a limousine accompanied by a two-motorcycle, one-squad-car police escort.

He stepped out with an entourage that included four well-, if selectively, dressed young women. Informed that the older gentleman was the Lakers owner, Sixers fans who moments before had been jeering Matich and his friend watched silently.

``Wow,'' said one. ``He's the man.''

--Etc.: The Lakers got a pregame visit from Rev. Jesse Jackson, who chatted briefly with Robert Horry and Ron Harper. ... Sixermania clearly knows no boundaries. At Tuesday night's U2 concert at First Union Center, the crowd inexplicably broke out into ``Beat L.A.!'' chants a half-dozen times. U2 lead singer Bono even got into the act, throwing his support to the 76ers and egging on the chanters.