Riley closes in on 1,000
By Steven Wine
The Associated Press
MIAMI — To explain how Pat
Riley accumulated 998 NBA victo
ries, Jack Ramsay recalls a game
that got away.
It was a few years ago in Char
lotte, where the Miami Heat blew a
three-point lead in the final sec
onds of regulation, then lost in
overtime.
“To me, after that game, I would
have been ready to punch some
body’s lights out,” said Ramsay, a
Hall of Fame coach and now a Heat
broadcaster. “It was really a tough
loss. So we flew back to Miami,
and as Pat is getting off the plane,
he looks at me and laughs and
says, ‘That’s why you got out of
coaching, isn’t it?’
“He can get rid of all the frustra
tion. He lets it go, which is very
good.”
By coping well with defeat, Ri
ley has lasted long enough to ap
proach 1,000 victories, a milestone
achieved only by Atlanta Hawks
coach Lenny Wilkens.
Riley’s focus will be elsewhere
this week as the postseason ap
proaches with point guard Tim
Hardaway hobbled. And if the
Heat make another hasty playoff
exit after winning their fourth con
secutive Atlantic Division title, Ri
ley will be second-guessed for his
stubborn commitment to the cur
rent roster.
An occasional critic points out
that it has been 11 years since his
most recent NBA title. Still, no one
suggests the guy can’t coach.
“In this game, with all the stress
es and pressures, to be able to win
1,000 games is a huge achieve
ment,” said Wilkens, who. has
1,178-980 (.546) in 27 seasons.
Riley is 998-432 (.698) in 18 sea
sons. Because the Heat have al
ready clinched the No. 2 seed in
the Eastern Conference playoffs,
their final two regular-season
games are meaningless, so Riley
may not reach 1,000 until next sea
son. Postseason wins don’t count
toward the total.
But there’s no hurry. At 55, Riley
plans to coach at least several more
years. He’ll leave the 1,000 barrier
far behind and could eventually
surpass Wilkens’ win total.
“Pat has been at a top level for a
number of years,” Indiana coach
Larry Bird said, “and one of these
days he’ll be the all-time win
ningest coach. I can see it coming.”
Three years of coaching million
aires was enough for Bird, who
plans to call it quits after this season.
Riley, in his fifth season with his
third team, still thrives in a job with
high turnover and low security.
“Coaching has hooked him,”
Ramsay said. “I was still coaching
when he started. Someone asked
him how long he was going to
coach and he said, ‘Aw, I’m not a
lifer like Ramsay. ’ Well, it turns out
he is a lifer.”
Streak
continued from page 7
ing at some records. She is cur
rently ranked first in RBIs with
139 and fifth in hits with 202, one
of only five Ducks with 200 or
more career hits.
She is also knocking on the
door in the home run department.
Her 26 career dingers put her
third all-time behind Robinson
and Stahl.
While Robinson and Welch
came into the season tied for sev
enth in doubles at 20 apiece, they
have both risen three spots togeth
er to fourth all-time at 31.
Run support
Sophomore hurler Connie Mc
Murren has finally gotten some
run support to go along with her
superb pitching. During the last
home stand, McMurren had
pitched a total of 20 innings, al
lowing only two runs on 12 hits,
but she didn’t get a win for her ef
forts.
What a difference a change of
scenery will do for one’s confi
dence.
On the recent road-trip, Mc
Murren picked up three wins and
a save in four games of work. The
difference was run support. In her
previous losses, McMurren did
not get any help from her team
mates as the Ducks scored only
one run. However, during her cur
rent two-game winning streak,
Oregon has scored 13 runs in the
three games which McMurren got
a decision.
The two wins improved Mc
Murren’s season record to 12-12.
In the middle of the Pac
The recent sweep of the Bay
Area teams improved Oregon’s
Pac-10 record to 4-6 and puts them
smack-dab in the middle of the
conference race.
The Ducks are currently in fifth
place and are ahead of three other
teams who are ranked higher than
them in the national polls.
009050
Tim Wise
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