Mr.Bottomtooth
11-23-2006, 11:26 AM
Riley on edge after debacle
Coach warns players: Cuts may be coming
By Ira Winderman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted November 23 2006
SAN ANTONIO · As the deficit mounted, as Pat Riley found himself unable to find answers for his team's growing questions, the Heat coach allowed himself a moment of exasperation.
After calling a second-quarter timeout with his team down 18 in what would turn into a humiliating 106-86 loss to the Spurs at AT&T Center, Riley slammed his portfolio against his hip.
Had the hip proven as frail as his team, perhaps this would not have been his mess to heal. But in bypassing a hip replacement for the shot at a second consecutive title, the nightmare is becoming a daily reminder of how quickly fate can turn.
Wednesday in many ways was Riley's breaking point.
"I'm damned if I'll allow people to crap on this franchise," he said after loudly expressing similar disgust directly to his players in a postgame locker room diatribe that included threats to cut players and eat contracts. "I've been the good daddy. That's history now."
With injuries increasing and his team's spirits sagging, Riley could only grimace as the Heat fell to 4-7, with its fifth loss in its past six games.
"I'm going to have to find a solution," he said, summarily discarding injuries.
Yet five days after losing center Shaquille O'Neal to a significant knee injury, and a day after losing forward James Posey to a minor calf ailment, Riley rounded out his three-man inactive list with point guard Jason Williams.
Having delivered the rare dose of optimism with last Friday's return from offseason surgery, Williams announced before Wednesday's game that the discomfort in his right knee had returned.
Against that backdrop of doom, the Heat opened 0 for 5 from the field, fell behind 8-1, went down 21 in the second quarter, trailed 57-38 at halftime, and saw its deficit reach 29 in the fourth quarter.
That's when Riley entered the locker room and let loose with the type of vitriol he never needed last season, after coach Stan Van Gundy endured the team's 10-10 start.
"We don't even have respect for winning," power forward Udonis Haslem agreed. "It seems like we're not even putting in the effort to defend it."
Unlike in previous debacles this month, Riley exhibited little restraint with his irritation. When the second half started, Antoine Walker and Alonzo Mourning were on the bench, with Dorell Wright and Earl Barron on the court.
For Mourning, it was an out-of-sorts evening, with defensive miscues compounding his impulsive offensive decisions.
For Walker, it was practically a self-imposed exile.
After challenging Riley to give him a greater role in the O'Neal-less offense, Walker found himself on the bench 1 minute, 17 seconds into the opening period, after picking up two fouls. Another quick foul limited him to five first-half minutes. After missing 20 of his previous 29 shots entering the game, he was 0 for 4 in the first half, his only attempts of what turned into a 10-minute outing.
"It's not that we're losing," Walker said, "it's the way we're losing."
Those who got to stay and endure what has become regularly scheduled national-television degradation, exhibited their own frustration.
Guard Dwyane Wade, who opened 1 of 7 from the field, was called for a second-quarter technical foul for bouncing the ball off the basket support.
Teammate Gary Payton then got into the act by decrying the whistle on Wade. When Payton was called for a technical of his own, he turned away from Wade, toward referee Michael Smith and said, "I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to my man."
And so it went.
The Heat fell to 1-19 alltime in San Antonio, where it has not won since Dec. 23, 1996.
Ira Winderman can be reached at iwinderman@ sun-sentinel.com.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/basketball/heat/sfl-spheatspec23nov23,0,2919627.story?coll=sfla-sports-heat
Coach warns players: Cuts may be coming
By Ira Winderman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted November 23 2006
SAN ANTONIO · As the deficit mounted, as Pat Riley found himself unable to find answers for his team's growing questions, the Heat coach allowed himself a moment of exasperation.
After calling a second-quarter timeout with his team down 18 in what would turn into a humiliating 106-86 loss to the Spurs at AT&T Center, Riley slammed his portfolio against his hip.
Had the hip proven as frail as his team, perhaps this would not have been his mess to heal. But in bypassing a hip replacement for the shot at a second consecutive title, the nightmare is becoming a daily reminder of how quickly fate can turn.
Wednesday in many ways was Riley's breaking point.
"I'm damned if I'll allow people to crap on this franchise," he said after loudly expressing similar disgust directly to his players in a postgame locker room diatribe that included threats to cut players and eat contracts. "I've been the good daddy. That's history now."
With injuries increasing and his team's spirits sagging, Riley could only grimace as the Heat fell to 4-7, with its fifth loss in its past six games.
"I'm going to have to find a solution," he said, summarily discarding injuries.
Yet five days after losing center Shaquille O'Neal to a significant knee injury, and a day after losing forward James Posey to a minor calf ailment, Riley rounded out his three-man inactive list with point guard Jason Williams.
Having delivered the rare dose of optimism with last Friday's return from offseason surgery, Williams announced before Wednesday's game that the discomfort in his right knee had returned.
Against that backdrop of doom, the Heat opened 0 for 5 from the field, fell behind 8-1, went down 21 in the second quarter, trailed 57-38 at halftime, and saw its deficit reach 29 in the fourth quarter.
That's when Riley entered the locker room and let loose with the type of vitriol he never needed last season, after coach Stan Van Gundy endured the team's 10-10 start.
"We don't even have respect for winning," power forward Udonis Haslem agreed. "It seems like we're not even putting in the effort to defend it."
Unlike in previous debacles this month, Riley exhibited little restraint with his irritation. When the second half started, Antoine Walker and Alonzo Mourning were on the bench, with Dorell Wright and Earl Barron on the court.
For Mourning, it was an out-of-sorts evening, with defensive miscues compounding his impulsive offensive decisions.
For Walker, it was practically a self-imposed exile.
After challenging Riley to give him a greater role in the O'Neal-less offense, Walker found himself on the bench 1 minute, 17 seconds into the opening period, after picking up two fouls. Another quick foul limited him to five first-half minutes. After missing 20 of his previous 29 shots entering the game, he was 0 for 4 in the first half, his only attempts of what turned into a 10-minute outing.
"It's not that we're losing," Walker said, "it's the way we're losing."
Those who got to stay and endure what has become regularly scheduled national-television degradation, exhibited their own frustration.
Guard Dwyane Wade, who opened 1 of 7 from the field, was called for a second-quarter technical foul for bouncing the ball off the basket support.
Teammate Gary Payton then got into the act by decrying the whistle on Wade. When Payton was called for a technical of his own, he turned away from Wade, toward referee Michael Smith and said, "I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to my man."
And so it went.
The Heat fell to 1-19 alltime in San Antonio, where it has not won since Dec. 23, 1996.
Ira Winderman can be reached at iwinderman@ sun-sentinel.com.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/basketball/heat/sfl-spheatspec23nov23,0,2919627.story?coll=sfla-sports-heat