Fitzgerald Cecilio

New Orleans, LA

Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge said he doesn't want to fight Miami Heat president Pat Riley since it could be too expensive for him.

Ainge, who was reacting to Riley's venom against him, noted that Riley wears Armani suits and a lot of hair goop, which he doesn't want to mess up.

But Celtics coach Doc Rivers joked that they indeed should duke it out.

Riley had called Ainge a big whiner and told him to shut up in criticizing LeBron James.

"Danny Ainge needs to shut the f--- up and manage his own team," Riley said in a statement released through a Heat spokesman. "He was the biggest whiner going when he was playing and I know that because I coached against him."

Ainge said he was at a loss about Riley's comments.

"I stand by what I said. That's all. I don't care about Pat Riley. He can say whatever he wants," Ainge said shortly before Friday night's game between Boston and Atlanta.

Rivers said he found Riley's comments "funny."

Ainge said that Miami's LeBron James had no cause to challenge officials for failing to classify fouls assessed to Chicago's Kirk Hinrich and Taj Gibson as flagrant in the Miami's 101-97 loss to Chicago Thursday.

He argued that the non-calls complained by James were not hard fouls and that the referees got the calls right. On theother hand, Ainge added that the one committed by James against Carlos Boozer was flagrant, and that the officials got it right again.

"I think that it's almost embarrassing that LeBron would complain about officiating!" he exclaimed.

Riley coached the Los Angeles Lakers against Ainge's Boston Celtics in the 1984, 1985 and 1987 NBA Finals.

 

 

 

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Celtics' Ainge Says Its 'Too Expensive' to Beat Up Heat's Riley