When
the Charlotte Hornets finished their third straight lay-up line
in
the 2001 Playoffs, the Miami Heat found themselves out of the first round.
Again.
And Heat players and coaches had to explain the ubiquitous Why?
to the
media.
Alonzo Mourning lamented that the healthy Heat didn't get to play in
the
series. Pat Riley admitted that the team was just out-everythinged --
outplayed,
outworked, outprepared, outcoached.
A
long time ago, when Kobe Bryant and Jermaine O'Neal were just
beginning
to add a tens digit to their ages, Riley was still rather
unfamiliar
with the concept of explaining a loss. He had relatively little
perspective
on the subject. In 1988, Riley stood on the dais following the
Lakers
thrilling repeat championship. It was their fifth title of the decade.
Riley,
addressing the crowd, coined a soon overused term: he promised Los
Angeles
a three-peat. It didn't happen. Injuries and the rise of the Pistons
ended
the streak at two. After a successful 1989-90 regular season in which
they
won the West's number one seed, the Lakers were rudely dispatched by the
fifth-seeded
Suns in only five games. Riley resigned following the season and
waited,
while working as a studio analyst for NBC's NBA coverage, for an
opportunity
to build a new champion.
Two
teams and ten seasons later, Riley is still waiting.
Pat
Riley's arrival in New York seemed a match made in heaven. A
seasoned
coach with many trophy cases worth of credibility goes to the
basketball
mecca to provide All-Star Patrick Ewing with direction and
competent
teammates. The first year on Broadway was a big hit. The Knicks
improved
by twelve games and tied Boston for the best record in the Atlantic
Division,
although Boston won the tiebreaker. In the second round, the Knicks
stared
down defending champ Chicago and gave them all they could handle. In
fact,
the Knicks were contenders every year under Riley, but strange
circumstances
hindered the Knicks in Riley's last three years in the Big
Apple.
In the 1993 East finals versus the Bulls, Charles Smith inexplicably
could
not convert a pointblank lay-up, even after four attempts. In 1994, Sam
Cassell,
then an untested rookie, hit an enormous three-point basket in the
closing
stages of game three of the finals as the Rockets regained the
homecourt.
In game six, regular-season and Finals MVP Hakeem Olajuwon had the
presence
of mind to jump out and get a fingertip on red-hot John Starks'
potential
series-clinching shot. In the East semis in 1995, Patrick Ewing's
gimme
at the end of game seven versus the Pacers bangs off of the back iron,
and
the Pacers advanced.
Another,
less mystical factor contributing to the Knicks' shortcomings
was
their roster. Patrick Ewing just never got to play next to a superstar.
John
Starks, though fearless and talented, was mercurial. Charles Smith
played
on two legs that unfortunately couldn't withstand the NBA grind.
Charles
Oakley was, and is, a rock to build upon, but if you can box him out
you've
pretty much stopped him. Anthony Mason is an All-Star, but doesn't
exactly
evoke fear in opposing coaches; Let's see...Baylor and West, "Clyde"
and
"the Pearl", Magic and Kareem, Isiah and Dumars, Jordan and
Pippen...Ewing
and Mason? Not exactly. Because of this somewhat deficient
personnel
(certainly deficient when compared with Riley's Laker teams), Riley
adapted.
At the risk of absolutely abusing a cliche, Showtime became
Slowtime.
Riley's Knicks defended every inch of the court with their lives
and
on offense executed very well in the halfcourt. If anything, Riley's
status
as a coach grew considerably after his four seasons in New York.
Perhaps
Riley would have done well to get back into the broadcast
booth
for a season or two. Although Riley made Miami into a perennial threat
in
the East since his arrival in the 1995-96 season, they are seldom seen
as
contenders.
The Heat have frequently underachieved with Riley on the bench.
Riley's
Miami teams often defend in the manner he is accustomed to, but the
team
isn't sharp offensively and as a whole, Riley's Heat hardly ever play
basketball
with an appropriate level of energy nor sense of urgency. The Heat
lose
in the first round of the playoffs with alarming regularity. Charlotte's
utter
demolition of the Heat makes one wonder if the easy sweep will have the
effect
of a first-round bye for the Hornets.
An
old adage states that people tend to remember the last thing you
do.
If Pat Riley can no longer motivate the way he once did, he will seem
less
like this generation's Red Auerbach -- Phil Jackson may have already
wrested
that honor from Riley -- and rather will resemble a modern Dick Motta.
