Fox Won’t Wait for an Ovation

It was never a big game for him to begin with and the events of Tuesday in Miami dropped it down another spot on the list of worries. So ask Rick Fox what kind of greeting he expects tonight when he returns to Boston for the first time as a visitor.

“I don’t care,” he said. “I’ve got bigger concerns.”

Such as a win. But there will be some reaction, Fox having spent the first six seasons of his pro career as a Celtic before being renounced in the summer and becoming a free agent.

That has to be worth something. Of course, so does becoming a Laker.

“It has always been just another game, to tell you the truth,” he said. “There’s not a lot to dwell on back in Boston.

“To me, it’s an era behind me and I’ve moved on. Maybe if I still knew a lot of people there. But there’s only a few guys left from when I was there.”

*

So Scottie Pippen wants to be traded to either Phoenix or Los Angeles.

Does that mean the Clippers?

The odds on the Laker option are somewhere between none and none. The decision to move away from the Mitch Richmond deal weeks ago came because Jerry West wanted to let his current team play out a while, and now that they’ve played all the way out to 11-1, the chances of breaking up the core for someone weeks away from playing are virtually nil.

TONIGHT

at Boston

* 5 PST

* Channel 9,

(6 PST)

Site--FleetCenter.

Radio--KLAC (570).

Records--Lakers 11-1, Celtics 7-6.

Record vs. Celtics (1996-97)--1-1.

Update--Travis Knight, who left the Lakers after a very promising rookie season to sign with the Celtics as a free agent, is averaging 9.4 points and 6.8 rebounds. The work on the boards is more impressive than that number would indicate, since it has come in only 26.5 minutes and at center, a position he’s playing undersized at about 230 pounds.