PHILADELPHIA VS. INDIANA MILWAUKEE VS. ORLANDO MIAMI VS. CHARLOTTE NEW YORK VS. TORONTO SAN ANTONIO VS. MINNESOTA L.A. LAKERS VS. PORTLAND SACRAMENTO VS. PHOENIX UTAH VS. DALLAS

Wednesday, May 30 Heat upset in playoffs the last four years Associated Press MIAMI – It's a somber rite of spring: Pat Riley meets one final time with his team and then with the media, trying to explain what went wrong for the Miami Heat. When Riley renewed the ritual Monday, the lines in his face were deeper, the gray in his hair more pronounced and the self-assessment harsher than ever before. That comes from losing to a lower-seeded playoff team each of the past four years. "If I was my boss, I would probably fire me," Riley said. With a chuckle he added, "But I'm not going to fire myself." Riley, 56, said he hasn't thought about retirement, and team owner Micky Arison isn't about to fire him, despite an improbable first-round playoff humiliation against the Charlotte Hornets that included losses by 26, 26, and 15 points. Riley is still regarded as one of the NBA's best coaches, and his team overcame serious health woes to overachieve during the regular season, winning 50 games. But the sweep by Charlotte dropped Riley's playoff record with Miami to 18-25, and he acknowledged he deserves more blame than he has gotten for the Heat's postseason failures. "You've given me a free pass," he told reporters. "Why, I don't know. I'm genuinely surprised. Should I be criticized? I should be no different from my players." The fallout from the meltdown against Charlotte has included Riley, who is second-guessed for staying one year too long with aging, injury-prone Tim Hardaway, relying on muscle up front rather than speed and shooting on the perimeter, and juggling his rotation just before the playoffs. Riley himself wonders whether it was wise to return Alonzo Mourning and Eddie Jones to the starting lineup after they were reactivated late in the season. "Maybe it would have been best for me to go with the guys who had played and developed a chemistry all year long," Riley said. "I'll give you that one." It's been 13 years since Riley won his fourth and most recent NBA title with the Los Angeles Lakers. He came within one win of a championship with the New York Knicks in 1994, and he has won four Atlantic Division titles in six years with the Heat. But too often over the past decade, his team has fallen short of expectations in the playoffs. "I left the Lakers with a bag of rings, a lot of wins and a great reputation," Riley said. "But I never thought of myself as anything but part of a great team. "Now when I go somewhere, everybody thinks these miracles are going to happen. The people who carry the brunt of that are the players, and if there's one thing we haven't been able to handle in New York and Miami, it's the expectations. "I'm saying, How much more of me should my players take?' I cause all of these expectations." Riley himself expects to win, and on Monday he began fueling optimism about next season, saying the current Heat roster contains enough talent to contend for a title. Offseason personnel decisions will come later, but Riley said his preference is to keep the core group together and focus on ways for the players to better complement each other. It will require a collective effort, he said, to rebound from the collective failure against the Hornets. "Everybody contributed mightily to this collapse," Riley said. In his mind, that includes the coach. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories

ALSO SEE Hornets buzz past Heat, sweep into second round Mourning's future uncertain, but he's optimistic AUDIO/VIDEO  Coach Pat Riley feels he deserves to be fired after Miami's dismal playoff performance. wav: 161 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6