Will Mcdonough On Team Meetings, Pitino Denials, Antoine's Selfishness

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                                [The Boston Globe Online][Boston.com]
                                [Boston Globe Online / Sports]


                                Harrington stories have Fenway tie

                                By Will McDonough, Globe Staff, Globe
                                Columnist, 03/27/99 <snip>


                                Rick Pitino yesterday had his second team
                                meeting in two days with the Celtics, this
                                one in their Philadelphia hotel before
                                last night's game with the 76ers, and told
                                the players he didn't appreciate any of
                                them running to the press with things that
                                had been said privately in the locker
                                room.

                                Pitino read them Michael Holley's column
                                in yesterday's Globe, because the players
                                said they hadn't seen the story. Pitino
                                told them whoever told Holley that Pitino
                                was swearing and yelling at them was
                                lying. All of the players denied being
                                sources.

                                Pitino told them the only reason all of
                                the negativity is surfacing is because
                                they're losing. He pointed out that what
                                happens and is said in the locker room on
                                winning teams stays inside, and not in the
                                press. He said that the insinuation that
                                he is a control freak, worrying about
                                their tickets, curfews, etc., was
                                ridiculous, that he has nothing to do with
                                their tickets, and that he only had a
                                curfew in Washington for a Sunday 1 p.m.
                                game with the Wizards earlier this year
                                because they had played in Portland, Ore.,
                                Friday night and in a triple-overtime game
                                at Vancouver Wednesday night.

                                This is from a former NBA coach:

                                ''Coaching the league now is like playing
                                golf. The games are won and lost when you
                                set the handicaps before you tee off. A
                                coach gets three or four guys with
                                long-term contracts - five, six, seven
                                years - for millions of dollars, and he
                                has no chance. Those guys aren't going to
                                listen to him. All they care about is the
                                money. There are no guys like Jordan,
                                Bird, Magic, or Isiah that all they wanted
                                to do was win. It's a joke. The players
                                run the show. The coach has a handicap he
                                can't overcome.''

                                How is this for a telling statistic. In
                                his last four games, Antoine Walker has
                                played a total of 171 minutes against
                                Chicago, Cleveland, Minnesota, and
                                Philadelphia. In those 171 minutes, when
                                he had his hands on the ball more than
                                anyone else, he had a total of five
                                assists. One assist every 34.2 minutes. He

                                played 43 minutes against Chicago last
                                week with no assists. Over that period he
                                shot 20 of 70 from the floor ... <snip>

                                Will McDonough is a Globe columnist.

                                This story ran on page G01 of the Boston
                                Globe on 03/27/99.
                                © Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.

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