KC Jones Riles Up Pitino

1983-84 Boston Celtics
Record: 9-4
11/22/1983

There is tension between these two teams. When the Celtics arrived at Madison Square Garden last night, Hubie Brown was walking his troops through some plays in the dimly lit sports palace. Celtics coach K. C. Jones took a front-row seat and watched the duration of the workout (about 25 minutes' worth). At one point, Knicks trainer Mike Saunders came over and started talking to Celtics broadcaster Johnny Most, who was seated next to Jones. Saunders' real objective was thinly veiled. He was standing directly in front of K. C. as he small-talked with Most.

"Could you move aside?," asked Jones.

"K. C., you can't watch our practice," said Saunders.

With that, Jones got out of his seat, moved to another and resumed watching the Knicks. When the session ended, Knicks assistant Rick Pitino walked by and said to Jones, "Did you get everything you needed?" Upon learning of the incident, one Knicks official said, "That's a low blow by K. C." Asked about it, Jones said, "There's no law that says we can't come out here and watch." "If K. C. wasn't a nice guy, he'd have knocked that trainer on his ass," added combative general manager Red Auerbach.

"We don't even think about it," said Hubie. "If he wants to do that, fine. In the end, it just comes down to execution anyway." Pitino added, "It was the strangest thing I've ever seen in my life. I was afraid to keep going through the plays, but Hubie said, Never mind him.' Nobody ever watched us like that before. Coaches might be in the arena somewhere, but nobody ever sat and watched."