Jim O'Brien quit as coach of the Boston Celtics, after half a season under new boss Danny Ainge.
Ainge said O'Brien told him he wanted to resign at a meeting Tuesday morning, one of their regularly scheduled sit-downs to discuss "philosophical differences" on running the team.
"The philosophical differences, I thought, were much smaller than Jim thought," said Ainge, who announced O'Brien's departure at a news conference at the team's practice facility.
Assistant coach John Carroll will take over for the rest of the season, Ainge said. Another assistant coach, Dick Harter, was let go.
Ainge said that he took a more long-term view of building the team, while O'Brien was more concerned with short-term results.
"Jim did not see that long-term vision that I saw," said Ainge, who took over as the team's director of basketball operations during last season's playoffs.
Ainge, who appeared at the news conference with one of the team's owners, Wyc Grousbeck, was also trying to add more offense to the team, while O'Brien had always placed a heavy emphasis on defense.
"He was not sure he's the man for that job ... he didn't want to take our money and our time under false pretenses," Grousbeck said.
Ainge, who said he was surprised by O'Brien's decision, also said he had had differences with O'Brien over whether to play some of the older players on the team.
"We felt that there was a ceiling on the success of the old players ... so we did not always agree on the players who should be on the court," Ainge said.
A call placed to O'Brien's agent, Lonnie Cooper, wasn't immediately returned.
The Celtics are 22-24 after reaching the playoffs the past two seasons.
O'Brien's resignation came one day after Byron Scott was fired as coach of the New Jersey Nets, the only team ahead of Boston in the Atlantic Division.
The Celtics lost five of their last seven games, including a 110-91 setback at New Jersey on Sunday. Boston trailed by 17 at halftime and sank just 36 percent of its shots for the game. In those last five losses, star Paul Pierce, who hasn't gotten much offensive help, made just 27 percent of his shots.
Since being hired, Ainge has made numerous changes, trading Antoine Walker to Dallas before the season and Eric Williams and Tony Battie to Cleveland on Dec. 15. The first deal deprived the Celtics of a second scoring threat to go along with Pierce. The second took away two veteran leaders and keys to O'Brien's defense-oriented approach.
Nets 94, 76ers 76
Richard Jefferson and the New Jersey Nets made Lawrence Frank's first game as interim coach a success.
Jefferson scored 30 points to lead the Nets to a 94-76 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night.
The 33-year-old Frank was promoted from assistant coach to interim coach after Byron Scott was fired Monday.
Jason Kidd had 13 points and 10 assists, and Kenyon Martin also scored 13 points. Willie Green led Philadelphia with 20 points.
Spurs 77, Knicks 67
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Ward, a member of the Knicks for 9 1/2 seasons who was sent to Phoenix in the Stephon Marbury trade, broke the tie with his 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter and finished with eight points.
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