Larry Brown Sports

Pat Riley issued possibly the statement of the year when he told Danny Ainge to shut the f— up and mind his own business.

Ainge upset Riley by saying Thursday on WEEI’s “Salk & Holley” show that it was embarrassing for LeBron James to complain about calls like he did after the Miami Heat lost to the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday.

“I think the referees got the calls right. I don’t think it was a hard foul,” Ainge said of the calls involving LeBron. “I think the one involving LeBron against Boozer, that was flagrant. I think the officials got it right.

“I think that it’s almost embarrassing that LeBron would complain about officiating,” the Boston Celtics GM added.

The Heat president responded through a team spokesman Friday with the statement of the century.

“Danny Ainge needs to shut the f— up and manage his own team. He was the biggest whiner going when he was playing and I know that because I coached against him.”

Word of Riley’s blast got back to Ainge, who admitted Riley was right.

“I would say we’re both right,” he said. “LeBron should quit complaining; I complained as a player and I should manage my own team. We’re both right.

“Pat Riley’s right. I should manage my own team. I complained a lot to the officials. And I’m right, LeBron should be embarrassed about how he complains about the calls he gets.”

What’s the takeaway here aside from the epic smack exchanged between the two? This says a lot about why so many players love Riley. FOX Sports Florida’s Chris Tomasson has some great quotes from Jerry Stackhouse who admired Riley for standing up for his player. Retired tennis player Andy Roddick echoed Stackhouse’s thoughts.

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The Celtics are in trouble.  There is a fine line that NBA teams tread between veteran experience and just plain old.  The Celtics have been flirting with it over the past couple seasons, and if the first 13 games of this season are any indication they may have officially crossed it.  Boston is 5-8 on the year and has lost five of its last six games.  During each of those losses they scored no more than 88 points.  With the exception of Rajon Rondo — who was having a career year but left Wednesday’s game with a wrist injury — the Celtics don’t have much going for them.  That is why Danny Ainge is considering blowing the whole thing up.

In an interview with the Boston Globe, Ainge explained that he does not want the Celtics to have to go through the type of 10-year drought they went through after Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish left in the 1990s.

“(Red Auerbach) had a chance to trade Larry (to Indiana) for Chuck Person and Herb Williams and (Steve) Stipanovich and he had a chance to trade Kevin (to Dallas) for Detlef Schrempf and Sam Perkins” Ainge explained. “I was like are you kidding? I mean I feel that way now. If I were presented with those kind of deals for our aging veterans, it’s a done deal to continue the success.

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When Danny Ainge dealt Kendrick Perkins to the Oklahoma City Thunder the basketball world felt pure shock. As a fan of the Boston Celtics, I felt pure rage. Even Lakers fans were left in disbelief over what had transpired at the trade deadline. Why would Danny pull off a last second deal that may disturb the balance of the universe and cause the New England commonwealth to cave in upon itself? I decided to give it a few games as see what other moves Danny had planned before I crowned him the new Joe Dumars of the NBA.

A week has passed and the dust has settled. A few games and the new-look Boston Celtics look good. In fact, they look better. We shouldn’t just forgive Danny Ainge for moving Perkins, we should thank him.

Part of the reason Perkins was moved was because he had turned down a 4-year, $22-million offer from the Celtics. Perkins believed his value to be $10-million per year and the Celtics front office disagreed. The other key in the trade was Marquis Daniels going down with a neck injury. This left Boston with no backup small forward to help relieve Paul Pierce of his duties. Afraid that Boston and Pierce would burn out before the Finals and Perkins would leave shortly thereafter as a free agent, Ainge pulled the trigger. The move had two purposes: Try and salvage as much of this season as possible as well as help cushion the teams decline in the post-Big 3 era.

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Celtics GM Danny Ainge was in attendance for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals between the Cavs and Celtics on Monday night. Although his Celtics pulled away from the Cavs in the third quarter and went on for an easy win, Ainge did everything possible to ensure his team would win. That includes tossing up a towel to try and distract J.J. Hickson who was attempting a free throw late in the 3rd quarter. PTI showed a video replay of the incident on ESPN and there’s also a clip of it on YouTube thanks to user Foenixx. Here’s the Danny Ainge free throw distraction video where he tosses up a towel to break J.J. Hickson’s concentration:

As Cavs coach Mike Brown said, as long as it’s within the rules, there should not be a problem with Ainge’s actions. Some people might view it as classless and juvenile while others will see it as trying to help his team win. I see it as a bit of both and really can’t blame Ainge, as long as there’s nothing illegal about it.

Sources:
Celtics GM Ainge spotted tossing towel to distract Cavs [CBS Sports]