duncan228
03-29-2010, 12:02 AM
Michael Finley’s ex-coach Pops off (http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/celtics/view.bg?articleid=1243088&srvc=rss)
By Mark Murphy
Boston Herald
Michael Finley, per usual, was out shooting early before last night’s game.
Tim Duncan, per usual, was going through the same routine down the other end of the floor.
It was inevitable that the two former San Antonio Spurs teammates - with Finley now a Celtic - would eventually gravitate toward midcourt and embrace. Finley would eventually go through this ritual with most of his former teammates on the floor and in the Garden hallway.
The only thing that seems odd to them now is Finley on another team.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich still sounds slightly stung by the fact that, after falling out of the rotation this season, Finley would ask for a release.
“I was surprised when he asked that,” Popovich said prior to his team’s 94-73 win against the Celtics. “I didn’t think it would be something that Michael Finley would ask to do. But one has to be realistic and put oneself in those shoes. If you’re toward the end of your career and someone is not going to play you and you still want to play more basketball, what’s wrong with asking to play elsewhere, and trying to play as long as you possibly can? If that’s what you want to do, well, that’s what he did. I don’t blame him a lick.”
And so the string has continued for Finley, now as a reserve who has quickly made himself invaluable with the Celtics.
“I just made a decision to play other people,” said Popovich. “We honored Michael’s request to seek another team. We decided to do it, and do it the right way by the cut-off date, so he could go with another team that he could play with in the playoffs.”
And that’s where the sentimentality ends.
“I’m coaching against the Celtics,” Popovich said, “not Michael”
*********************
Pregame.
http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/getty/f1/fullj.df09aae7257a48a21f2925c73f39b912/df09aae7257a48a21f2925c73f39b912-getty-90044295.jpg
By Mark Murphy
Boston Herald
Michael Finley, per usual, was out shooting early before last night’s game.
Tim Duncan, per usual, was going through the same routine down the other end of the floor.
It was inevitable that the two former San Antonio Spurs teammates - with Finley now a Celtic - would eventually gravitate toward midcourt and embrace. Finley would eventually go through this ritual with most of his former teammates on the floor and in the Garden hallway.
The only thing that seems odd to them now is Finley on another team.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich still sounds slightly stung by the fact that, after falling out of the rotation this season, Finley would ask for a release.
“I was surprised when he asked that,” Popovich said prior to his team’s 94-73 win against the Celtics. “I didn’t think it would be something that Michael Finley would ask to do. But one has to be realistic and put oneself in those shoes. If you’re toward the end of your career and someone is not going to play you and you still want to play more basketball, what’s wrong with asking to play elsewhere, and trying to play as long as you possibly can? If that’s what you want to do, well, that’s what he did. I don’t blame him a lick.”
And so the string has continued for Finley, now as a reserve who has quickly made himself invaluable with the Celtics.
“I just made a decision to play other people,” said Popovich. “We honored Michael’s request to seek another team. We decided to do it, and do it the right way by the cut-off date, so he could go with another team that he could play with in the playoffs.”
And that’s where the sentimentality ends.
“I’m coaching against the Celtics,” Popovich said, “not Michael”
*********************
Pregame.
http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/getty/f1/fullj.df09aae7257a48a21f2925c73f39b912/df09aae7257a48a21f2925c73f39b912-getty-90044295.jpg