Riley Rejects Celtics’ Dunk in Mind Game

The New York Knicks can move one step closer to clinching the NBA Atlantic Division title with a victory tonight over their closest pursuers, the Boston Celtics. The game will be played in Boston Garden, where the Knicks have lost 24 consecutive regular-season games since 1984.

But Knick Coach Pat Riley, claims not to be intimidated.

“They’ll put all that in the papers, but what they won’t say is that this team went up there (two years ago) and won the fifth game of the playoff series,” he says. “But you expect that from the Celtics. They are a team that understands the nature of gamesmanship, all the ways to turn the screws. That’s part of their legacy.”

Even if the Knicks lose tonight, Riley says he believes they have proved they are the division’s best team.

“(The Celtics) like to create the illusion that we are desperately hanging onto the division by our fingernails, that they can win it because of their storied past,” he says. “We have a firm grip on the division, not because of luck or their injuries but because we’ve worked our butts off.”

Add Riley: Exploring Riley’s success with the Knicks this season in an article for the April issue of Vanity Fair, Ken Auletta writes: “From the beginning, the implicit leap of faith asked of the players and fans was to believe an inspired coach could remake a team of only modest talent. So far, Riley has delivered.

“So far. But now the half-converted are asking the next question: Can Pat Riley bring a championship to New York before his players become fatigued by his almost messianic intensity.”

No-hit parade: Nolan Ryan, who began his 25th season in the major leagues when he pitched the opening game for the Texas Rangers Monday night, recalled his most memorable games in a recent interview with the Dallas Morning News.

He said that the best stuff he ever had was not during one of his seven no-hitters, but during a one-hitter that he pitched for the Angels on July 9, 1972, in a 3-0 victory over Boston.

“I walked the leadoff man and struck out the second guy,” he said. “Carl Yastrzemski rolled a grounder between third base and shortstop for a hit. I retired the next 26 guys and struck out (16).”

Trivia time: How many one-hitters has Ryan pitched?

Speak up: “If not the smartest man in baseball, close,” writes Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Verdi of Angel Senior Vice President Whitey Herzog, who tells Verdi:

“If the owners are serious about saving, let them get rid of the designated hitter in the American League. That’s a start. That’ll save $2 million a team right there. Didn’t like the DH, and still don’t, even though I’m in the American League now. I don’t understand it.

“Course, I don’t understand a lot of things. The World Series between Minnesota and Atlanta? Greatest ever? Is that what they called it?

“Well, it was even. But there were so many fundamental mistakes by both teams, it was unbelievable. Fans don’t care, which is fine. Most of the fans don’t see them, which is even better.”

Trivia answer: Twelve.

Quotebook: Coach Mike Krzyzewski, while contemplating the hanging of a second NCAA championship banner at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium: “I’m probably stupid for saying this, but I wonder where a third one might go.”