Brown to Skip Mexico Exhibition

Philadelphia Coach Larry Brown, coming off a 45-day run as an assistant with the U.S. Olympic team, will not travel to Mexico for the 76ers’ preseason game Saturday against Washington.

Brown, 60, left open the possibility he would rejoin the club in Chapel Hill, N.C., for a Monday game against Toronto.

“It was just 45 days constantly doing stuff,” Brown said Wednesday after putting his team through a nearly three-hour workout.

“I came back from Sydney exhausted.”

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Miami Heat Coach Pat Riley chided the media for reporting unconfirmed details of Alonzo Mourning’s kidney ailment.

“If the press would just respect his wishes, everything will come out when ‘Zo looks at that camera and is sure of everything,” Riley said in East Rutherford, N.J.

Mourning, whose kidney ailment was discovered during a routine physical at the start of training camp, remained in Miami while the team traveled to New Jersey for its first exhibition game Wednesday night against the Nets.

Mourning plans further consultation with his doctors and expects to receive a final diagnosis and a recommended course of treatment next week.

The team has released no details of the ailment, but it has been reported that he may need a transplant.

“I think people, especially writers, should give him that respect after all the years he’s been playing this game and just let it happen that way. But it’s not happening that way,” Riley said.

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Houston Rocket center Hakeem Olajuwon, bothered by a breathing disorder last season, was encouraged by his play in an exhibition opener against the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night.

“The second half, I felt very comfortable,” said Olajuwon.

Olajuwon, probably entering his final season, played 15 minutes, scored five points and had four rebounds.