Why It’s a Net Loss to Overrule

Pat Riley is the coach of the Lakers, not David Stern. But National Basketball Assn. Commissioner Stern fined the Lakers $25,000 for holding players out of a meaningless game in Portland Sunday night anyway.

The Trail Blazers, the opponents in the end-of-the-season contest, complained that their fans had been gypped out of the cost of their tickets because Magic Johnson, James Worthy and other stars were kept on the bench. Riley gave some injured players, plus Johnson and Worthy--who, thankfully, are in good health--a spell to help prepare them for the grueling schedule of playoff games and travel that now begins.

Riley did what any other good coach would do in the same situation: Would John Robinson risk having Jim Everett hurt after the Rams have qualified for the football playoffs? Would Tommy Lasorda make Fernando Valenzuela pitch meaningless end-of-season innings as the Dodgers prepared for baseball’s divisional showdown? Maybe the Lakers could have tried harder to win that final game. But the reason they didn’t have to was because they’d outperformed Portland during the balance of the regular season, and that counts for something, too.

The Lakers earned their rest; Riley was correct. Stern is interfering in the right of a coach to manage his team. That’s bad for basketball.