Folding Is Not the Riley Way

The darkness on the Miami Heat team bus Tuesday night as it made its way through downtown L.A. traffic was broken only by occasional light from the high-rises.

But Coach Pat Riley didn’t let that stop him from a routine he has been following for two decades.

A trademark blue card in his hand, Riley scribbled his pregame notes, his mind zeroed in on the upcoming game against the Clippers at Staples Center.

A smile crossed the face of Randy Pfund, team president and general manager, as he glanced at the familiar sight.

It was suggested on these pages Tuesday that Riley, one of the most successful coaches in NBA history, might want to consider scribbling down something else: A retirement letter.

A winner of four NBA titles as coach of the Lakers in the 1980s, the league’s all-time career leader in playoff wins, one of only two men to win 1,000 regular season games, Riley is faced with the real possibility of finishing with a sub-.500 season for the first time in his 20 years as a coach.

“As I watched him writing those notes, I thought how amazing it is that he still has that kind of enthusiasm,” said Pfund later. “I saw that and I knew we are going to be all right.”

Riley’s reaction to walking away?

No way.

Instead, Riley, ever the master at magnifying real or imagined slights, planned on incorporating Tuesday’s Times article into his pregame talk.

Riley’s speeches to his team were always equal parts philosophy and Xs and O’s. It was always us against them..”

Nobody was immune to being used as a motivational tool. Nobody’s actions were above suspicion.

When he was coaching the Lakers, Riley, having decided to close practice to the media, blamed it on a writer he claimed had offered him a play from an opposing team’s practice.

Riley wouldn’t, or couldn’t, name the writer.

Riley once accused the workers cleaning up Boston Garden of spying on his team’s practice with a device in their brooms.

So for a coach anxious to find new ways to inspire a team that has hit rock bottom at 2-14, Tuesday’s story couldn’t have been any better if Riley had written it himself.

“I am going to use it as ammo to fire my players up,” he said with a smile.

But Riley admitted there hasn’t been much to smile about.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “It’s not fun at all. When we’re not competing, it’s not fun. But I picked these players as coach and it’s my job to make them more diligent.”

Coming to Los Angeles, where he had enjoyed his greatest success, both as a player and a coach, had proved invigorating for Riley.

As he walked about town Tuesday, he said, he found pockets of support he didn’t know he had.

“I was hearing from the children of the Yuppies who used to be there for me,” he said, “the kids of the baby boomers.”

Riley, a baby boomer himself, doesn’t deny he has gone from boom to bust this season. But he insists it won’t quell his enthusiasm.

So rip him and question him and rile him.

When a guy has to deliver a pregame talk every night, he can never have too much material.