NBA FINALS DAILY REPORT : With Pacers Out, Brown to Have Hip Replaced

Instead of flying to Houston for the NBA finals, Larry Brown will be going to the hospital.

“Tomorrow, I’m getting my hip done, which I’m not looking forward to,” the Indiana Pacers’ coach said of his hip replacement surgery. “I was hoping we could continue to play so I could put that off a little bit.”

It’s an operation Brown has previously postponed, but the 94-90 loss to the New York Knicks in Game 7 of the NBA Eastern Conference final Sunday took away his last excuse.

Brown met with the players, his staff and Pacer President Donnie Walsh on Monday.

“We talked as a team about getting started now for next year,” Brown said. “Donnie kind of challenged the team--after thanking the team on what they’ve done--to get themselves prepared so we don’t ever go back, we only go forward. So I think we’re all committed to doing that.”

The nomadic Brown said he has no desire to coach elsewhere.

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Hakeem Olajuwon’s Nigerian parents, Salaam and Abike, will watch their son play basketball for the first time when the Rockets play host to the Knicks in Game 1 of the NBA finals Wednesday night.

“When they came before, we weren’t in the playoffs,” the NBA’s MVP said. “This will be their first time . . . to see me in the finals.”