May, today.

[Jim Metz <JBMetzEA@AOL.com>]

Title: May, today.

ON BASKETBALL

Time for Pitino has expired
By Peter May, Globe Staff , 1/4/2001  
 
Rick Pitino has always had a larger public profile than the team he now coaches. At one time, the profile represented hope. It's well beyond that now.
Another Celtics loss last night showcased all the shortcomings we've come to expect, shortcomings that doom this team. By all rights, it should doom the coach as well. Pitino has always said that he will do the right thing for the Boston Celtics and the best thing he can do for the franchise he leads is to step aside. He is not enjoying it. His players have all but cashed it in. His boss knows the ship has no rudder. In any other normal business
situation, this is a no-brainer.
Last night, prior to the Celtics' game with the Knicks, Pitino was asked about his much-anticipated ''meeting'' with owner Paul Gaston sometime this month. You remember that one, the meeting during which Pitino will ''recommend'' a coaching change if the team hasn't come around.
''It's an old story,'' Pitino said. ''Just wait it out, baby. I've got to. So do you.''
He's right about us. He's right about it being an old story. But he doesn't have to wait it out. After last night's 100-91 loss to New York, the Celtics are 12-20. Everyone has waited far too long.
Pitino is a dead coach walking and it can't remain that way much longer. It's gone from ''if'' to ''when'' and when is going to be sooner rather than later. It's a monumental distraction when the only serious public debate about the Boston Celtics concerns the status of a coach who has put himself on the plank. He can turn the team over to Jim O'Brien for the rest of the season and contemplate his next move.
There may be other forces at work, however. We may have the NBA equivalent of ''The Perfect Storm,'' with two major fronts colliding. (You may recall, in the book/movie, the skipper went too far and ventured into the Flemish Cap, dooming his ship. Pitino's own Flemish Cap was in town last night - Travis Knight.)
On one front, we have the fate of the coach. On the other front, we have the fate of the franchise. The two are inextricably linked.
Pitino is eligible for a $22 million buyout in the event of an ownership change. He is not going to be fired. It was six weeks ago that he challenged his team to improve defensively and put his future on the line. The team has actually regressed over that span. The Knicks last night hit triple figures for just the sixth time this season and shot 54 percent from the field, the third time they have crossed the 50 percent line. They join Atlanta, New
Jersey, Detroit, Dallas, and Charlotte as teams that have shot 50 percent against Boston in the past 21/2 weeks. Opponents are shooting 46.6 percent against the Celtics, the worst defensive field goal percentage in the league.
Pitino once again last night saluted his team for playing ''hard.'' He has repeatedly lauded his players' effort over the past fortnight, which means he is either delusional or trying to make it appear as if they haven't died on him. Most can see what's going on: They play hard in stretches, but other times are basically going through the motions waiting for the other shoe to drop. You don't play with great effort and allow teams to consistently
shoot above 50 percent.
In addition to the very public stage on which the Pitino coaching melodrama is unfolding, we have the very private backroom venue for the ongoing sale talks. They are warming up to the point where every loss pushes a deal that much closer. One member of the NBA Board of Governors was asked yesterday about a Celtics sale. ''It's a great time to buy,'' the governor said, ''because you always want to buy when you are at the bottom and have nowhere to go
but up.''
The Celtics are pretty down. Since the Philadelphia debacle, they are 8-14. Last night's loss dropped them to 9-10 at home. Prior to the season, they were hoping for no worse than 12-15 home losses. The Knicks, responsible for the only sellout this season, back in November, couldn't pack the place this time. Even then, it seemed at times as if half the building was rooting for New York.
Even Pitino's own son sees it. In comments to Lenny Megliola of the MetroWest Daily News, Richard Pitino, a high school senior, had this to say: ''I love to go into the locker room at halftime and hear my dad motivate,'' he said. ''It seems like he gets a little more inspired than the players do. It seems like he is working harder than the players. If they're not going to respond ... ''
He then was asked what he would do if he coached the team.
''I'd leave,'' he said.
Rick Pitino undoubtedly has given his namesake son much advice over the last 17 years. In this case, however, he'd do best to listen to his son. ''I just want him to be happy, more than anything else,'' Richard Pitino said last night, watching from his courtside seat. ''That's the only thing that matters to me.''
Rick Pitino hasn't been a happy man, basketball-wise, for some time. It's not going to change here. By sticking around, he only is making it harder on everyone, most noticeably, himself.
This story ran on page E02 of the Boston Globe on 1/4/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.  

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