Heat back in trusted hands

CHICAGO — It was always just a matter of time before Miami Heat president Pat Riley turned the ballclub over to the only coach he’s ever really trusted.

Himself.

The “compulsive-obsessive” – Riley’s words – returned to the bench Tuesday night after two years away, looking none too worse for the wear. He hasn’t forgotten how to win, either, punching the air in the briefest of celebrations after a 3-point attempt by Chicago’s Luol Deng clanged off the rim at the buzzer, preserving Miami’s 100-97 victory.

Not that Riley was claiming much credit.

“My mind was too full of stuff,” he said afterward. “I’ve forgotten everything I used to know.”

Well, not quite everything.

The facade of cool remains intact. If either the timing, the manner or the criticism that followed the departure of Stan Van Gundy a day earlier was troubling him, Riley didn’t let on. At 60, the slicked-back mane above a widening forehead was grayer, but still featured as many comb lines as wrinkles gathering below. His answers remain just as crisp as the knotted tie and spread collar on Riley’s impeccably tailored white shirt.

One thing was different, though. The man who made a small fortune giving motivational speeches to corporate chieftains about winning expects a grace period himself.

“There have been some changes in the game,” Riley said. “I’m going to have to catch up with it.”

Some 90 minutes before tipoff, Riley stood in a hallway and admitted the butterflies were fluttering in his gut, the way they always did before big games. He could draw on the experience of four NBA titles and 1,110 wins, but coaching, Riley insisted, was nothing like riding a bicycle. For one thing, he wasn’t sure how long he’d need to steer the franchise in the right direction again.

“Until the time comes where I can inject a different personality into it,” he said, “the only thing that counts is what’s been on the last couple of weeks.”

The last couple of weeks have been unsatisfactory for everybody in Miami, to be sure. Van Gundy, whom Riley just eased out the door, wasn’t happy with the effort he was getting from a veteran team, either. They gave away too many rebounds, too many second shots, too many points in the paint. But as long as Riley was peering over his shoulder, Van Gundy was powerless to do much about it.

One game is not a reliable sample, but the Heat claimed an edge in nearly every “hustle” stat in Riley’s debut. Then again, the players he assembled heard him say this summer that he missed coaching, that he wanted to be more “involved.” Like everybody else inside and outside the Miami organization, they knew from that day forward that Van Gundy was already locked in a holding pattern, circling until he picked out a soft place to land.

Riley at least let Van Gundy set the time of his departure. The guys who play for him now know he won’t extend them the same courtesy.

“I tried to keep Stan in it as long as I could,” Riley explained before the game. “He became adamant about it. It’s what it is and I just felt that it’s time that I step in. That’s the way it is.

“Whether you believe it or not it’s absolutely irrelevant to me,” he added. “I know what the deal is, and he knows what it is, and Micky (Arison, the Heat owner) knows what it is. That’s the only ones that really count, anyhow.”

Except the players, of course.

But there was no question whose side they were on. It’s been two decades since Riley worked his magic with Magic and Kareem, but they know his past. And just in case they forgot, a not-so-subtle, gold-and-diamond reminder glistened on Riley’s ring finger.

“You play this game to provide for your family, No. 1,” Alonzo Mourning said. “After that, it’s about winning. … We’re in good hands.”

And how they got there troubled those players least of all.

“This was made between Coach Van Gundy and Coach Riley,” Shaquille O’Neal said. “I had nothing to do with it. Coach Riley’s not that type of person where I can go into the office and say, ‘Why don’t you do this, why don’t you do that.’

“He told me that when I first came here, that that’s not how this organization is run. I knew and understood that,” O’Neal added. “I would never do that anyway.”

It matters little now what the real reasons for the switch were. He turned the team over to Van Gundy in the first place after frustrating, back-to-back seasons of 36 and 25 victories, then watched his successor win as many playoff series in two seasons as he’d won in the previous eight.

Back then, though, Riley never imagined Dwyane Wade would turn into a Magic-caliber superstar or that the Lakers would let Shaq leave.

“I was in an abyss two years ago,” Riley said. “I feel a lot differently about the game, two years of watching and collecting thoughts about it.”

At least he’s off to a good start, with 60 games left to prove himself right or wrong. Good as he’s always been at the blame game, the beauty of this move is that Riley has only one person to pin this one on.

Himself.

“I liked this win,” Riley said. “If we had lost, I’d have gone and retired.”