# Pat Riley Admits Mistakes In 94 Finals



## USSKittyHawk

> For New Yorkers sick of the pathetic James Dolan/Isiah Thomas/Larry Brown watch, Stern even has a delicious Knicks angle to offer. It was broached as soon as Rolando Blackman was approached yesterday and was asked, "Has Pat Riley ever apologized to you?"
> 
> The question was a joke, but referred to Riley's infamous decision not to play Blackman 12 years ago. It seems implausible given the current state of things at the Garden, but the Knicks were actually good enough to be playing in the Finals in 1994, the last time Riley took a team this far. But even after grabbing a 3-2 lead ... hey, if you don't know what happened by now ...
> 
> The killer, of course, was that Riley went down with John Starks shooting blanks in Game7. Blackman, an accomplished scorer in his day, never got off the bench as Starks missed 16 of 18 shots.
> 
> The Knicks returned to the Finals five years later, but by then Riley was in Miami, having his heart broken by his old team, and Blackman was retired. To this day, there are Knick fans who don't understand why Riley let Starks implode and never turned to Blackman, the veteran scorer who was imported from Dallas a year before. "I've seen Pat since then and we've talked," said Blackman, now one of Avery Johnson's assistant coaches. "But nobody says anything about the day. We've never talked about it."
> 
> Clearly, it's too uncomfortable for Blackman, who maintains his loyalty to Riley. He can get a ring now at Riley's expense, but it wouldn't ease the pain.
> 
> "My perspective is that we should have gotten me in there, or Hubert (Davis), just so John could sit out for a little bit," Blackman said. "He needed to come out for a little bit to stop what was going on with him. He needed time. But I don't want to be critical, because it's gone. It's past. We still had other problems - called Olajuwon."
> 
> While Hakeem Olajuwon did get the better of Patrick Ewing, the Knicks still might have won if Blackman had been able to get on the floor.
> 
> "It still kills Ro," said Derek Harper, who formed the backcourt for years in Dallas with Blackman and was a key member of that '94 Knicks team.
> 
> Harper and Blackman never got to a Finals with the Mavs. But if Blackman had relieved Starks on June 22, 1994, Harper might have left the game with a ring, too.
> 
> "Knowing Ro the way I know him, who's more competitive than Ro and who is more prepared for that kind of opportunity than Ro?" said Harper, now a sportscaster in Dallas. "Not many people. The ironic thing is that he would have come through. That's what kills him more than anything. Not only was he sitting over there and felt he should be out there. But he felt he could have added something for us in those games."
> 
> Twelve years later, Riley feels the same way. He admitted yesterday that he should have done two things differently in what turned out to be his best chance of winning a title in New York. (And, from the way things look, the best chance the Knicks will have had for at least the remainder of the century.)
> 
> His first error, he says, was leaving Doc Rivers off the playoff roster after he had sustained a leg injury early in the season.
> 
> "And I should have played Blackman, without a doubt, in the Finals," Riley said. "At the time, Starks in Games 3, 4 and 5 carried us in the second half. And in Game6 he had this incredible fourth quarter. And in Game 7 ..."
> 
> Riley didn't have to finish the sentence.
> 
> "I got caught up in the short rotation," he said. "That's why we brought Rolando there. Immediately afterward, I knew. If we had played the two of them, but especially Ro, we would have won the championship. To this day, every time I see Rivers, he's mad at me. He's like..."
> 
> Riley balled his hand into a fist, as if he wanted to throw a punch. "Rolando has never expressed what he feels about it to me, but he could still play," he said. "And that's the biggest mistake I ever made."


http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/424749p-358328c.html

Let's go Mavs, damnit!


----------



## Krstic All-Star

With all due respect from Riley, I'll repeat the same thing I was screaming when I watched that game: PUT HUBERT DAVIS IN!!! Blackman hadn't played well that season, while Davis was a dead-eye threepoint shooter. Since Vernon Maxwell wasn't doing anything that game, Davis' horrid defense wouldn't have been an issue. Davis was the guy who should have been in for some clutch baskets.


----------



## Gotham2krazy

LET'S GO MAVSSS! Screw Shaq, and those bandwagon guys.


----------



## Rashidi

> Since Vernon Maxwell wasn't doing anything that game, Davis' horrid defense wouldn't have been an issue.


I'm sure Maxwell's lack of production had nothing to do with Starks' defense either.


----------



## Krstic All-Star

Rashidi said:


> I'm sure Maxwell's lack of production had nothing to do with Starks' defense either.


Not in that game. He was just plain off. Didn't look into the flow much at all from the get go. Plus, he hadn't been featured offensively that game, though it's certainly possible that Tomjanovich would've adjusted that.


----------

