Red Auerbach

Phil Jackson and Red Auerbach have more in common than the record for most NBA titles by a coach, says Fran Blinebury of the Houston Chronicle: "Neither Red nor Phil must have mirrors on his walls, because a casual glimpse by one would show a reflection of the other. "At nine championships apiece, they deserve to be listed on the same page of the record books. Jackson is the height of haughtiness. Auerbach is an artist of arrogance.

Somewhere in Boston on Wednesday night, Red Auerbach was probably sitting with an unlit cigar. Auerbach had reigned supreme as the coach with the most championships in NBA history, a total of nine. Wednesday, he got company. Phil Jackson joined him when his Lakers swept the New Jersey Nets in the NBA Finals.

Red Auerbach has made a second career of minimizing Phil Jackson's coaching achievements, his criticism becoming more vocal the closer Jackson gets to another title. Auerbach won nine NBA championships as coach of the Boston Celtics from 1957 to 1966. Jackson has eight, which annoys Auerbach to no end.

After it was over on this steamy June night, after the Lakers had turned away one last charge up the hill by the Philadelphia 76ers' musket brigade, Phil Jackson was smiling. See a player, smile, hug and smile. He repeated the sequence again and again on the floor of the First Union Center, the way he has in arenas in every time zone in the country. He gets the last laugh. Again. The season ends, Phil Jackson lights a cigar. Sounds like Red Auerbach? Get used to it.

How important is it for Clipper Coach Bill Fitch to have surpassed Red Auerbach and become the second winningest coach in NBA history? Well, keep in mind that the Clipper staff surprised Fitch earlier this season after he had become the first to coach 2,000 NBA games, presenting him with a wall plaque to commemorate the occasion. That plaque is still hanging in Fitch's office. . . . facing the wall. The veteran coach is just not one to make a big deal out of personal achievements.

Shawn Burr, who played for the Detroit Red Wings before Scotty Bowman traded him to Tampa Bay last season, criticized his former coach. "Basically he has the personality of a . . . sandwich," Burr said. "He is the most disrespectful person I've ever met. He's just a mean man with no social skills. You can't argue with his success as a hockey coach, but the way he treats people--that's not right. "I could tell a million stories."

Lenny Wilkens matched Red Auerbach's record for NBA coaching victories at 938 Thursday night as the Atlanta Hawks rallied to beat the San Antonio Spurs, 127-121, in overtime at Atlanta. Ken Norman, who led the Hawks with 32 points, lifted Wilkens off the floor with a bear hug as players and assistant coaches congratulated the coach as the game ended.

The cigar is still there between the thumb and index finger of his left hand. Opinions flow in a steady stream. The basketball court remains his domain. Red Auerbach doesn't give up easily. But the once irascible redhead who ranted at referees has mellowed. He's down to two cigars a day. His views are expressed in a softer, slower voice. When you nearly die, something has to change. Auerbach can't remember skipping a draft since he started his pro coaching career in 1946.

Boston Celtic President Red Auerbach underwent open-heart surgery Friday at Massachusetts General Hospital, medical center spokesman Martin Bander said. Auerbach, 75, was listed in satisfactory condition in the cardiac surgical recovery room. Five arteries were bypassed during the six-hour operation, Bander said. Auerbach, the winningest coach in NBA history, had been at the hospital last month for procedures to clear two blocked arteries.

Red Auerbach, president of the Boston Celtics, underwent a second round of surgery Wednesday to clear blocked arteries and was expected to spend a few more days in a hospital. Auerbach, 75, underwent a procedure that scraped clear a blocked artery, said Martin S. Bander, spokesman for Massachusetts General Hospital. On Monday, doctors performed angioplasty on Auerbach, a procedure in which a tiny balloon is inserted to compress fatty substances blocking the artery.