Boston Celtics President of Operations Danny Ainge recently ridiculed superstar Lebron James for his complaints about hard call during the Heat’s 101-97 loss on Wednesday. Ainge’s counterpart for the Heat, iconic former coach and player Pat Riled]y, had four simple words for Ainge, according to ESPN.
"Danny Ainge needs to shut the f--- up and manage his own team," he said in a statement Thursday. “He was the biggest whiner going when he was playing and I know that because I coached against him."
Despite Riley’s retort Ainge is not changing his tune.
“I stand by what I said. That's all. I don't care about Pat Riley. He can say whatever he wants," said Ainge Friday. “I don't want to mess up his Armani suits and all that hair goop,” he continued. “It would be way too expensive for me."
Ainge had spoken about James earlier in the week, saying that the two fouls James complained about were legit fouls and that he should stop whining.
In Wednesday night’s loss, there were two specific fouls that were controversial. The first was a bear hug from Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich in which both he and James fell to the ground as James was going to the basket.
The second foul was what appeared to be a close line from Taj Gibson as James was driving down the lane. Neither was called as flagrant fouls. James would be given a flagrant after he lowered his shoulder in a Carlos Boozer screen after the Boozer foul.
"I think the referees got the calls right. I don't think it was a hard foul," said Ainge on Thursday. "I think the one involving LeBron against [Carlos] Boozer, that was flagrant. I think the officials got it right.”
He did respond to Riley’s comments about his own complaining.
"Pat Riley's right," Ainge said. "I should manage my own team. I complained a lot to the officials. And I'm right, LeBron should be embarrassed about how he complains about the calls he gets."
Celtics Coach Doc Rivers had a little fun with the back and forth between the two head honchos.
“Very interesting. I think it's cool. They should duke it out," he said according to a tweet from the Boston Celtics.
When the three-time MVP was asked asked about Ainge’s comments he just brushed them off.
"I actually didn't know anything about people's responses," said James. "I don't care what other people's responses are.
