Coaching candor

Red Holzman seemed a cinch to become only the second coach in National Basketball Association history, besides Red Auerbach, to win 700 games. Hardly obsessed by the milestone, however, he has retired from the New York Knicks with 696 career victories. Asked if he looked back now with regret on defeats snatched from the jaws of victory, Holzman had this refreshing response: ''Sure, I can think of lots of games that we should have won, but I can also think of some games that maybe we should have lost and didn't.''