Bird Reports For New Job
Larry Bird arrived on the private jet of the team’s owners and took a limo downtown.
Perhaps the most celebrated player ever to come out of basketball-mad Indiana, Bird returned home Monday to take over as coach of the Indiana Pacers, the team that passed on a chance to draft him in 1978.
“I’m very happy to be back home and have an opportunity like this to come to my home state … and hopefully try to get to the finals like I was few times,” Bird said at a news conference at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.
This is the first coaching job for Bird, a 12-time NBA All-Star with the Boston Celtics.
Pacers president Donnie Walsh said he wasn’t concerned by Bird’s lack of coaching experience.
“We want Larry back because he’s going to help us win ballgames,” Walsh said. “That’s what the NBA is about.”
Knicks tix fix nixed
City officials cracked down on five New York-area ticket brokers for scalping Knicks basketball playoff tickets at prices up to 700 percent of face value.
“Unethical ticket brokers are putting the full-court press on Knicks fans,” Consumer Affairs commissioner Jose Maldonado said. “If they want to play rough, we will play rough.”
He said that while state law allows brokers to sell $5 or 10 percent, whichever is greater, above the face price, the brokers were selling second-round NBA playoff ducats for around 10 times the face price.
Rodman expected to sit
The Bulls have decided to all but bench Dennis Rodman for tonight’s potential series-clincher against the Hawks - and in the unlikely event they need any other games to close out their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Phil Jackson gave Rodman the word during the weekend in Atlanta, where he played a total of 18 minutes off the bench during the Bulls’ back-to-back victories.
“We’re certainly going to need him if we’re going to continue on this path,” said Jackson, who knows Jason Caffey isn’t going to be the answer if the Bulls run into the Knicks’ Charles Oakley, Buck Williams and Co. “I told him Atlanta is a difficult matchup for him. It’s a challenge, simply by the nature of the matchups.”
Blazers comings and goings
The Trail Blazers are expected to name their new coach this week, and all signs indicate Mike Dunleavy will get the job.
In the meantime, P.J. Carlesimo, fired after the Trail Blazers’ first-round playoff loss, will be a guest studio analyst on Turner Broadcasting System’s coverage of the playoffs this week.