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It's not easy being Donnie Walsh. Everyone likes him. He's smart, accessible, tough, experienced ... all that stuff. He's an NBA good guy.

But now he's on the front lines, taking flak for one of the nuttiest organizations in sports.

In New York magazine, Chris Smith tells us what it's like to be Donnie Walsh, repatriated New Yorker. (He got pretty amazing access: Smith tells us what the bartender said this summer when Walsh walked into Elio's, an upper-East Side Italian place, for his celebratory welcome-to-New York dinner with David Stern.)

I particularly loved this passage (I added the dashes, to make it family friendly):

Walsh copes with the stress by meditating. He sits in the most comfortable chair in his new apartment on the Upper West Side, closes his eyes, and tunes out the world. Walsh has been taking a Zen vacation at least once a day for 25 years now. No particular crisis in his life prompted his interest in meditation. "Maybe it was because I saw something on television about it," Walsh says. "It clears my mind. I think too much, and if you're not thinking all the time, maybe you put yourself in a better position to make a decision. But I'm not Zen-ing out all over the place."

Indeed, all the years of wins and losses haven't dulled Walsh's passion. Last week, he exited cursing from a blowout Knicks loss to the Celtics -- an exhibition-game loss. One of Walsh's most vivid memories is from the 1995 playoff game at the Garden in which the Pacers beat the Knicks, with Reggie Miller scoring a ridiculous eight points in 8.9 seconds -- and how Walsh, in a fit of fury, missed most of the incredible comeback. "I'm sitting there, and the Knicks get up six points; there's like twenty seconds left," he says. "I get disgusted. I'm pissed at our team. I get out of my seat. I go down the tunnel and I go into the locker room and I shut the door. I'm in there cursing: 'Motherf-----s!' All of a sudden there's a knock on the door and it's Mel Daniels: 'Donnie! Reggie just tied the game!' And I say, 'Quit f---ing with me! I'm not in the mood!' I'm yelling at him, and he's laughing. We find a TV. I see John Starks miss two foul shots; Reggie gets the rebound, and he gets fouled. I look at Mel and say, 'Are you f---ing telling me we're gonna win this f---ing game?' "

For no good reason: Video of Reggie Miller's two three-pointers in that most remarkable comeback.