The Cleveland Cavaliers mopping the floor with the Miami Heat proved two things. First, the NBA Play-In Tournament is a waste of everyone’s time. Second, the game has passed Pat Riley by.
There’s no arguing that the 80-year-old Pat Riley, who’s won a total of nine NBA championships across an illustrious basketball career, has forgotten more about the sport than any of us will ever know. But it’s been over a decade since the decorated NBA executive saw his team raise the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
And that gap is beginning to feel like a chasm.
The Heat have put together some miraculous runs in recent years, including going to the NBA Finals in 2022-23, a season after being ousted by the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. Pat Riley looked like he had pulled it off again, carefully crafting an impenetrable culture so strong it could drag eighth seeds to June.
But now? The Heat have lost a war to Jimmy Butler, stumbled through a 37-45 season, and were eliminated in the first round two years in a row. This time, it wasn’t even close — a 138-83 dismantling at the hands of the Cavs that felt like a mercy killing. The series was so lopsided, it broke Ernie Johnson.
And if you break Ernie, you’re beyond redemption.
They also broke Stephen A. Smith — though, to be fair, the First Take star is a bit easier to rattle.
ESPN’s newly minted $100 million man spoke in a low baritone, offering Pat Riley, the godfather himself, as the sacrificial lamb. The same Riley who helped redefine modern basketball, first with Showtime and then with Heat Culture, is now being tossed overboard.
“Change has to start,” Smith began. “Pat Riley, it’s time. It’s time. You have never heard anyone say that about the great Pat Riley, who I revere. I know this man. I got a lot of love for this man. I appreciate what he’s done for the game of basketball. I don’t have any doubt that he knows what he’s doing when it comes to basketball, in terms of what the team needs, the coach it has, etc. The reason I’m bringing up that there has to be a change in Miami is because you have to get people to want to come to Miami. And he’s not that guy anymore. Not that guy.
“He knows what he’s doing. He’s not gone. But he can’t get the right people to Miami. I think what I’m trying to say is that Erik Spoelstra needs to be the president of basketball operations for the Miami Heat.”
The empire Pat Riley built still stands, but for the first time, even his most loyal disciples wonder if it’s time for someone else to hold the keys.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.