Bird Says He Won’t Reconsider

Even if he leads the Indiana Pacers to their first NBA championship, Larry Bird has no intention of returning to coach the team.

Bird was asked after the Pacers finished Friday’s practice if he would reconsider his decision to step aside when the season ends.

“No, not at all,” he said.

The Pacers, who finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference, go into the playoffs assured of home-court advantage through the conference playoffs. They open Sunday against the Milwaukee Bucks, a team Indiana swept in the first round last year.

Bird has answered skeptics who claimed superstars cannot be successful NBA coaches by compiling a three-year winning percentage of .687. Indiana has recorded its two most successful seasons since joining the NBA in 1976 during Bird’s leadership, with a 58-24 record in his first regular season, 33-17 in last year’s abbreviated season, and 56-26 this season.

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Vernon Maxwell won’t be playing for the Seattle SuperSonics in the playoffs, and that news came as a pleasant surprise for the Utah Jazz.

Based on Utah’s snickers and smug smiles, the revelation about Maxwell, who was replaced on the roster by Chuck Person, was welcome news going into a best-of-five series that starts today in Salt Lake City.

“One less crazy person we’ve got to worry about,” Bryon Russell said Friday.

Last year, when Maxwell was on the Sacramento Kings, the Jazz complained about his physical play during the teams’ first-round playoff series, which Utah struggled to win in five games.

Maxwell came back from arthroscopic knee surgery in January, but his status with the SuperSonics has been tenuous after a locker room scuffle with star point guard Gary Payton in which two teammates were injured.

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The playoffs have yet to begin, and the Miami Heat’s fragile psyche already is under siege.

Taunting and trash-talking helped chase Miami from the playoffs each of the last three seasons, so it’s no surprise that the Detroit Pistons decided to put those tactics to use. The Pistons begin a series today in Miami, and they’re making the trip sound like a vacation.

“I’m going to get my fishing poles out,” forward Terry Mills said.

“The idea of being in the warm weather for four or five days gets my teammates excited,” forward Jerome Williams said.

If the goal was to annoy the Heat, the Pistons accomplished their mission.

“A lot of the statements that have been made by other players are made either out of ego, arrogance or stupidity,” Miami Coach Pat Riley said. “People don’t understand or respect how hard we work, what we’ve gone through, the pain that we’ve endured. They’re going to get a team that is highly motivated.”

The Heat’s Tim Hardaway is doubtful for Game 1 because of a sore left foot.

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Philadelphia 76er guard Allen Iverson, who has an inflamed right elbow and broken toe on his left foot, practiced Thursday and Friday, his first practices on consecutive days in months. It was part of his effort to iron out kinks before the 76ers’ playoff opener against the Charlotte Hornets today.

“I don’t think I was rusty, and yesterday was my best practice of the year as far as my rhythm goes,” Iverson said. “But practice time doesn’t mean anything. I’m anxious to get on the real floor.”

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Michael Jordan and Wes Unseld are keeping quiet about the future of incumbent Washington Wizard Coach Darrell Walker. Jordan, the team’s president of basketball operations, and General Manager Unseld spent much of Friday in meetings.

Jordan and Unseld did not return calls seeking comment on an ESPN report that Walker, who led the team to a 15-23 record after Gar Heard was fired, would not return as coach.