| | BOSTON -- Rick Pitino's frustrations over a last-second loss
to Toronto came out in his postgame comments Wednesday night when
he criticized Boston fans for expecting too much from his young
team.
The Celtics blew a 20-point, third-quarter lead to the Dallas
Mavericks on Monday and lost 96-94 on Wednesday night on Vince
Carter's buzzer-beating 3-pointer to drop to 23-34 for the year.
Asked what he said to his team after the latest loss, Pitino
said he would not "succumb to negativity." But he soon did just
that.
"Well, we've played hard the whole year. We're going to be
positive every day. You are the people being negative," he told
reporters, "you and the fans.
"Larry Bird is not walking through that door, fans. Kevin
McHale is not walking through that door, and Robert Parish is not
walking through that door," Pitino said of the Big Three that won
three NBA titles in the 1980s. "And if you expect them to walk
through that door, they're going to be gray and old. What we are is
young, exciting, hardworking and going to improve. People don't
realize that. And as soon as they realize that those three guys are
not coming through that door, the better this town will be for all
of us.
"There are young guys in that room playing (hard). I wish we
had 90 million under the salary cap. I wish we could buy the world.
We can't. The only thing we can do is work hard, and all this
negativity that's in this town (stinks).
"And I've been around, and when Jim Rice was booed. I've been
around with (Carl) Yastrzemski booed. And it stinks. It makes the
greatest town, greatest city in the world, lousy.
"The only thing that will turn this around is being upbeat and
positive, like we are in that locker room. So if you think we are
not coming to play against the Toronto Raptors (on Friday night),
you are mistaken. Only we are not coming to play with Bird, McHale
and Parish. Or (Bob) Cousy or (Bill) Russell. We are coming with
young guys that want to get better and want to play the game.
"And we are going to stay positive all the way through it. And
if you think I will come to negativity, you are wrong. You've got
the wrong guy leading this basketball team." | |
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