If you have never read the Toronto papers than you might not know, they are as critical if not more critical than anything you'll see from New York, Philadelphia or Boston. These articles aren't, but they are really critical most of the time.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...l=970081562040
An odd couple of friends
DAVE FESCHUK
As a testament to his obsessive devotion to the hardwood's art, Raptors coach Kevin O'Neill has often boasted that he partakes in no hobbies.
So Rick Carlisle, O'Neill's best friend and the coach of the Indiana Pacers, appears a veritable renaissance man by comparison. Not only does Carlisle own an NBA championship ring from his turn on the bench with the 1986 Boston Celtics, he's also an accomplished pianist, a bowler of sufficient repute to own a monogrammed bag and shoes, and a scratch golfer with enough of an appreciation for the game's history to name one of his dogs after Canadian ball-striking wizard Moe Norman.
So when they spend time together in the summer, as these two natives of upstate New York say they often do, the well-rounded Carlisle sometimes tries to remove the blinders from the single-minded O'Neill. The results, so far, have been unsurprisingly futile.
"(Carlisle) took a whole year to get me to take up golf and we'd play every time we were together," said O'Neill last night, before his Raptors lost 83-77 to his pal's Pacers at the Air Canada Centre. "I'd end up pissed, throwing clubs, whooping it up and he'd be like, `You can't act like that out here.' Bulls--- I can't."
Such is the fun when the odd couple of the NBA bench share a holiday. O'Neill's the public potty mouth, the hot-blooded diet Coke addict who'll subdue himself, one assumes, when he's dead. Carlisle's the relative mute, the 2002 coach of the year who was run out of Detroit in 2003 after complaints within the organization that he was too cold in his dealings with colleagues and the media alike.
Last night the coaches squared off in an intriguing sideline chess match. It was only last season that O'Neill was Carlisle's lead assistant in Detroit; the systems their respective teams now employ are strikingly similar. So every time the Pacers took possession, O'Neill would glance down the sideline at his old buddy, who'd be holding up a hand signal that O'Neill clearly recognized. And as O'Neill shouted the name of the Pacers' pending play to his troops, Carlisle would bark counter orders to his.
But it wasn't a fair fight. The Pacers have been one of the best teams in the league this season; the under-manned Raptors are over-achieving at a couple of games under .500. And while Carlisle, who'll be the Eastern Conference coach at next weekend's NBA All-Star Game, got big-time performances from the pair of Pacers who'll be on the all-star roster — 27 points from Ron Artest and 20 points and 12 rebounds from Jermaine O'Neal — the Raptors were let down by the sulky work of hometown all-star Vince Carter, who was held to 18 points by a combination of Artest's relentless defence and Carter's own apparent indifference.
O'Neill slammed the scorer's table early and often. "Guard your (expletive) man!" he yelled after Artest scored yet again.
And though the Raptors rallied late — coming back from a deficit as big as 15 to cut the gap to two — their out-of-control antics, a Milt Palacio turnover here, a couple of Carter-forced clanks there, quieted the Air Canada Centre before the buzzer sounded.
"Run the (expletive) play," O'Neill hollered in the midst of that fizzling surge.
Meanwhile down the floor, the seemingly unflappable Carlisle watched the action like a researcher observing his lab rats.
Said O'Neill of his friend: "I always say that I'd like to be him for a day, he might like to be me for a day, but he would enjoy being me so (expletive) much that he wouldn't go back to being him. I have a lot more fun than that guy does, I'll tell you that right now."
With the exception of game nights, he's right.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...l=970081562040
An odd couple of friends
DAVE FESCHUK
As a testament to his obsessive devotion to the hardwood's art, Raptors coach Kevin O'Neill has often boasted that he partakes in no hobbies.
So Rick Carlisle, O'Neill's best friend and the coach of the Indiana Pacers, appears a veritable renaissance man by comparison. Not only does Carlisle own an NBA championship ring from his turn on the bench with the 1986 Boston Celtics, he's also an accomplished pianist, a bowler of sufficient repute to own a monogrammed bag and shoes, and a scratch golfer with enough of an appreciation for the game's history to name one of his dogs after Canadian ball-striking wizard Moe Norman.
So when they spend time together in the summer, as these two natives of upstate New York say they often do, the well-rounded Carlisle sometimes tries to remove the blinders from the single-minded O'Neill. The results, so far, have been unsurprisingly futile.
"(Carlisle) took a whole year to get me to take up golf and we'd play every time we were together," said O'Neill last night, before his Raptors lost 83-77 to his pal's Pacers at the Air Canada Centre. "I'd end up pissed, throwing clubs, whooping it up and he'd be like, `You can't act like that out here.' Bulls--- I can't."
Such is the fun when the odd couple of the NBA bench share a holiday. O'Neill's the public potty mouth, the hot-blooded diet Coke addict who'll subdue himself, one assumes, when he's dead. Carlisle's the relative mute, the 2002 coach of the year who was run out of Detroit in 2003 after complaints within the organization that he was too cold in his dealings with colleagues and the media alike.
Last night the coaches squared off in an intriguing sideline chess match. It was only last season that O'Neill was Carlisle's lead assistant in Detroit; the systems their respective teams now employ are strikingly similar. So every time the Pacers took possession, O'Neill would glance down the sideline at his old buddy, who'd be holding up a hand signal that O'Neill clearly recognized. And as O'Neill shouted the name of the Pacers' pending play to his troops, Carlisle would bark counter orders to his.
But it wasn't a fair fight. The Pacers have been one of the best teams in the league this season; the under-manned Raptors are over-achieving at a couple of games under .500. And while Carlisle, who'll be the Eastern Conference coach at next weekend's NBA All-Star Game, got big-time performances from the pair of Pacers who'll be on the all-star roster — 27 points from Ron Artest and 20 points and 12 rebounds from Jermaine O'Neal — the Raptors were let down by the sulky work of hometown all-star Vince Carter, who was held to 18 points by a combination of Artest's relentless defence and Carter's own apparent indifference.
O'Neill slammed the scorer's table early and often. "Guard your (expletive) man!" he yelled after Artest scored yet again.
And though the Raptors rallied late — coming back from a deficit as big as 15 to cut the gap to two — their out-of-control antics, a Milt Palacio turnover here, a couple of Carter-forced clanks there, quieted the Air Canada Centre before the buzzer sounded.
"Run the (expletive) play," O'Neill hollered in the midst of that fizzling surge.
Meanwhile down the floor, the seemingly unflappable Carlisle watched the action like a researcher observing his lab rats.
Said O'Neill of his friend: "I always say that I'd like to be him for a day, he might like to be me for a day, but he would enjoy being me so (expletive) much that he wouldn't go back to being him. I have a lot more fun than that guy does, I'll tell you that right now."
With the exception of game nights, he's right.
Comment