Riley Leaves Heat to Be With Mom

Miami Heat Coach Pat Riley will not accompany his team to Atlanta today, heading instead to Upstate New York to visit his ailing mother.

Mary Riley, 96, still lives in the Schenectady, N.Y., area where Riley grew up. The team announced Riley’s departure about an hour after Sunday’s game; Riley did not mention the situation in an interview after the Heat’s 117-93 loss to the Chicago Bulls at Miami.

The team does not know if Riley will coach Tuesday against the Hawks. Afterward, the Heat will fly to Boston -- a much shorter trip from the Schenectady area -- and end the regular season on Wednesday.

*

There was no word on whether New York Knick Coach Larry Brown would return to the sidelines tonight against Charlotte or in the regular-season finale Wednesday at New Jersey after missing two games since being hospitalized last week for an apparent acid-reflux condition in Cleveland.

A team spokesman said he had no information on Brown. Brown’s agent, Joe Glass, did not return phone calls.

Herb Williams, coaching in Brown’s place, told the New York Times that he had spoken with Brown twice over the weekend without being told of his plans.

Brown, 65, has not coached since late in the third quarter of Thursday’s loss at Cleveland. He left the arena on a gurney and has not been with the team since, missing two games. Brown is thought to be resting at home.

*

Boston Celtic guard Paul Pierce sat out Sunday’s game against the New Jersey Nets because of bursitis in his left elbow.