Riley's Regrets? Not Many

During a coaching career that spanned two-and-a-half decades, Pat Riley had far more ups than downs.

Five NBA titles. Nine Finals Appearances. Three NBA Coach of the Year Awards. Professional offspring that includes dozens of Hall of Fame players, All-Stars and future coaches.

But during a weekend in which Riley was celebrated for induction into the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame, he took a moment or two to discuss the few regrets or mistakes he's made along the way.

Actually, he doesn't consider them regrets. Just professional lessons he tried to learn from along the way. Not surprisingly, most of those mulligans he would have taken came during his four-year stint with the New York Knicks in the early 1990s.

Riley said if he had instilled a little more finesse (some of the Showtime Lakers mojo) in those rough-and-tough Knicks teams, Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley, Anthony Mason and company would have won an NBA title. Instead, they settled for a runner-up finish in a 1994 Finals loss to the Rockets.

Another thing Riley would have done differently would have been actually living in New York instead of maintaining a home in Connecticut. That may have contributed to some of the burnout.

"It was like 82 road games for me with all of the commuting," Riley said. "I drove in and stayed at the hotel when we played home games."

Perhaps the biggest regret of all, Riley said, was the way his tenure ended. Pat caught plenty of Heat on his way to Miami for faxing the Knicks his resignation. Ewing, also inducted in the Hall this weekend, said that was the only time he ever questioned Riley's methods. At the time, Ewing felt betrayed.

"I was disappointed when he left like that," Ewing said. "But you understand this is a business."

But if Riley could do it all over again, he still would have gotten out of Gotham. He just would have handled it differently.

"I had a great run. You take the good with the bad - and I don't have any regrets," Riley said. "I'm sorry the end was so bad (in New York). If I had to do it over again, I wouldn't have faxed it."