How Long Before ‘Mules’ Get Tired of Riley’s Whip?

It happens every four years or so: What goes up with Pat Riley must level off. Then what?

Riley has done so well as coach, de facto general manager and king of the Miami Heat, it’s hard to tell if he’s the old Riles, who was eased out by the Lakers and hurried out of New York before the storm hit, or a new Riles, who understands he isn’t likely to beat the Bulls while Michael Jordan is there and takes care not to drive everybody crazy in the meantime.

Before last week, Riley beat up on his new players once or twice. He cut Todd Day, who had complained about playing time, informing him in front of his teammates. Mostly, though, he shook them up without saying anything too harsh about anyone too important.

But last week, after losing at home to the Detroit Pistons, Riley went off on his stars, noting that Alonzo Mourning “had no impact for us to win that game when it counted most. The ball went into the post 17 times and we had 17 bad possessions. You can’t throw the ball to your key player 17 times and not get something out of it.”

Tim Hardaway, said Riley, “is leading point guards in shots attempted and threes attempted. That ain’t going to get it for us.”

Riley keeps his own league-wide efficiency rankings. He used to tell Magic Johnson that Larry Bird was at so-and-so while he was only at so-and-so and watch him go.

Of course, Magic was Magic. Mourning is merely Mourning and Hardaway merely Hardaway.

Mourning, the good soldier, said he agreed. Hardaway smoldered but held his tongue, saying only, “I’m not answering questions about what Pat Riley had to say about me and Zo. I see what he’s saying. I’m not ticked off.” Insiders say he was, so.

The next game, Hardaway and Mourning scored 49 points in an uninspiring 94-91 victory over Vancouver and Riley did his imitation of Moses coming down from Mt. Sinai with the tablets.

“None of them know what it takes to win,” he said. “They think they do. They have never been through it. There’s only one person who knows and that’s me. If they’re not going to listen to me, then they ain’t going to get it done.”

That sounded like old Riles, who wore on the Lakers and Knicks till they could stand it no more, who harked back to a lesson he learned from his father and never, ever backed down.

As one of Riley’s old favorites, Kurt Rambis, said two regimes ago, “You can only whip the mule so much before the mule turns around and says, ‘I’ve had it.’ ”

It’s Year III in Miami. Whether they’re on old Riles time or new Riles time, we’ll see.

QUIET RETURNS TO OUR LITTLE PENAL COLONY

Now that the Latrell Sprewell mess has thankfully ended, it’s time to ask: What was that all about?

It is a ‘90s irony that no league is, at once, as sleekly run as the NBA, and on the other hand, has been as dominated by and willing to coddle its stars.

For years, David Stern stuck to his glowing marketing reports and pooh-poohed the growing list of outrages perpetrated by his players, saying they were team matters. Finally, he got tired of getting ripped by the New York Times and turned into Judge Dredd, but it was too late.

Alvin Robertson should have gotten a month’s suspension for choking Piston General Manager Billy McKinney. Nick Van Exel should have gotten two months for bumping referee Ronnie Garretson. Dennis Rodman should have gotten half a season for head-butting referee Ted Bernhardt and a full season for kicking that cameraman in Minneapolis.

But let’s not kid ourselves, the system that created this monster would have protected it, no matter what.

In real life, it made no difference whether Sprewell’s contract was terminated. For a player so talented, however depraved, the game is played with Monopoly money: You take $23 million, someone else signs him for $15 million. In the end, he’s still rich as a pasha.

Indeed, even as indignation at the arbitrator’s decision echoed, Riley, the avowed model of traditional virtues, said he was interested in Sprewell. Asked if he wasn’t worried about Sprewell’s history, not to mention his own neck, Riley replied, “I’m not that closed-minded.”

Not when he needs another star to get over the hump, he’s not. Riley might hire an ax murderer if the guy could guard Jordan.

Of course, it won’t be easy rehabilitating this reputation. No felon freed on a technicality ever made a bigger fool of himself on the talk-show circuit than Sprewell, explaining he didn’t really choke P.J. Carlesimo, since “his eyes didn’t turn bloodshot red.” In other words, it didn’t count if Carlesimo lived through it.

Said TNT’s repulsed Doc Rivers of Sprewell, “The one thing he needs to do is say, ‘I’m sorry,’ and not talk anymore.”

No such luck. Sprewell then did a sit-down with Warrior beat writers, in which he said he’d “love to be back here if [Carlesimo] wasn’t here.”

Sprewell’s erstwhile defenders were so embarrassed, that some, like Billy Hunter, director of the NBA Players Assn., blamed others, like Arn Tellem, for not preparing Sprewell better. Tellem is Sprewell’s fourth agent and has no discernible influence.

Like it or not, this was their client, an addled young man, adrift in a crazy time.

WHO WANTS TO RUMBLE WITH THE COMMISH?

The owners will vote to reopen the collective bargaining agreement Monday in Dallas, a pro forma procedure, obliging them to do nothing more than talk. Locking the players out would require another vote.

More telling was a straw vote last fall, when nine owners reportedly dissented--most thought to be big hitters such as the Lakers’ Jerry Buss, the Knicks’ Dave Checketts and the Bulls’ Jerry Reinsdorf.

Stern reportedly is ready to lock the players out till next Christmas or longer to redo this deal. The owners have always given him a free hand, but it remains to be seen if they’re going to the wall with him on this one.

FACES AND FIGURES

Bad Boys redux: The Bulls, who were indignant when the Detroit Pistons walked off their bench before the end of their 1991 playoff series, saw someone else do the same thing--Phil Jackson, who left with six seconds left in regulation at Dallas, incensed that his players had blown a 10-point lead in the last 55 seconds. The Bulls lost in overtime, during which a TV camera caught Jackson, clipping his nails in a hallway. “The coach is the one guy who can’t leave, who can’t surrender,” TNT’s Hubie Brown said on his Chicago talk show, calling for management to fine Jackson. It didn’t. Jackson refuses to discuss it. . . . Not that they took this one for granted but Rodman took his sneakers off and gave them to a fan, then had to get them back to go back into the game.

Enough misery to go around: The Bulls then notched their biggest road wins of the season at San Antonio and Indianapolis. Taking it hard, Reggie Miller, who was torched by Jordan, 35-12, blamed himself for the loss. Also taking it hard, Bird added, “Reggie gets down on himself when he doesn’t shoot well early. I think that’s selfish on his part.” Bird was also upset that two players he wouldn’t name were late for the shoot-around and that Rik Smits, guarded by Toni Kukoc, got only 14 points. “Maybe Kukoc is stronger than he looks,” sniffed Bird.

Do the math: Joe Dumars, after the Pistons’ public-address announcer mistakenly said Dumars had just scored his 20,000th point: “Must have been a 3,000-point shot.” . . . Referee Joey Crawford, working that Piston game: “Next time he scores, announce that he just broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record.”. . . . ABC correspondent Ron Claiborne, sent to Denver to do a story on the Nuggets, who were threatening the record for losses, after they won for the second time in three games: “Go figure.”

Erin go bragh: Clipper Coach Bill Fitch, ejected in Golden State on St. Patrick’s Day, affecting an Irish brogue: “You want a St. Patrick’s Day quote? It was a grand call. They cost me a grand.” . . . Jordan after the Bulls’ reserves had no points, rebounds or assists in the win over the Pacers: “They’ll do better the next game. They can’t do worse.” . . . Reserve Jud Buechler, on the bench’s contribution to the starters: “Do you know how tired they would be if they had to run through the layup line by themselves?”