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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: PISTONS v CELTICS

May 20, 2008

Doc Rivers

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Game One

COACH DOC RIVERS: Obviously coming off an emotional Game 7 and coming in here today with the energy that we came in was fantastic. I liked the start, the way we started the game. We really were trying to establish our pace of play. Thought we got away from that, and then I thought in the second half we got back to it, and it was good. I thought the defensive pressure was fantastic.
Offensively, I just thought we made the nice passes the entire night. The ball kept moving, finding the open guy, and that's how we have to play.

Q. Kevin averaged much more against the Pistons in the regular season than he did, just overall average, and had a successful night again tonight. What is it about him offensively against them that he's able to find success?
COACH DOC RIVERS: I don't know (laughing). He's getting the ball in the right spots. You know, I thought we went through one stretch in the second quarter where we went away from that and got jump shot happy, pick-and-roll happy. And Kevin was part of that. He was one of the guys running out, setting picks instead of getting back in our offense and getting down low. We wanted to get him down there more and we wanted to get Paul down there more.
But I thought he was very aggressive attacking the paint tonight. He was going in the paint more than going away from the paint. That was a point of emphasis not only for Kevin, but overall for our team is that we have to score in the paint tonight, and it was very important, and we did that.

Q. Quick question about the start of the game: You got off to a quick start. It seemed that in the second quarter it started to slow down a bit, a few turnovers by Paul, a few missed free throws by KG. What did you see going on there and how did you right the ship in the second half?
COACH DOC RIVERS: Well, number one, I saw that we fouled every possession, so the game was slowing down. When Rondo was out, they really pressured us, so that's a point of concern going into Game 2. Our second unit, good ball handling. That took the pace away. All we did was talk about that at halftime and get it back, to get the pace back to where we wanted it to, and we felt good from there.

Q. Do you take a game like this and basically tell Rajon, this is what I wanted to see from you?
COACH DOC RIVERS: Yes, but I've done that before (laughter). Like I said earlier, I'm never going to forget that this is his second year, and I just keep that focus. I understand that. I believe in him. I play him. I'm going to keep playing him. Everything I told him before the game, stop all that worrying about them, make them worry about you, too. You're a hell of a basketball player. For the last 48 hours I didn't hear anything about, Rondo could play. It was everything about everybody else.
So it's very important that he keeps that confidence and stays aggressive.

Q. You talked about the points in the paint already. Could you talk about the adjustments that you expect Detroit to make on Thursday.
COACH DOC RIVERS: Well, I don't know. I mean, obviously they're going to do -- try to keep us from dribble penetration, clearly. I guarantee you that's one of them. And the other area is what they're going to do with Kevin, are they going to trap or not. Hell, there's only a certain number of things you can do and then when they do it we have to adjust to it. So we'll be ready.

Q. Players talking about what they did to keep from physically being tired out there, the ice and massage, but how do you as the coach keep them from being too mentally tired from the last series and as focused as they were tonight?
COACH DOC RIVERS: Try not to talk to them. That helps. They hear my voice so much, so it's sometimes important -- and I'm joking but I'm only half joking. That's the truth from the film. Armond (Hill) talked the entire offense at it. Tibs (Thibodeau) talked the entire defense at it. They don't need to hear your voice too much. They hear it all game, they hear it all day at shoot-around. But it's nothing more than that.
I like this rhythm of every other day, and I've been saying that for a while, and a lot of people have talked about the fatigue. Obviously we would rather not have gone through 14 games, but I still think it's helped us, I really do. I really think it's going through the tough games and being more battle ready. I think this has helped us, I really do. You know, if later it's due to fatigue, then we're wrong. But I think this has helped us.

Q. How do you think Chauncey looked? It seemed as if he was a little hesitant, a little slower than usual.
COACH DOC RIVERS: Yeah, I think he's healthy and I think he's 100 percent, but when you sit out that many games or that many days in a row, without having an exhibition game, and you come back and your first game is a playoff game, that's difficult. He'll keep getting better, we understand that.

Q. Was there anything during the game that is different about playing them than anybody else? You look at the score and are up 10, you don't feel you're up 10. There's always something about them that's in the back of your mind.
COACH DOC RIVERS: Absolutely. There's two teams that it's like that a lot, and that's San Antonio and Detroit. They've been through so many games. They've come back so many times and we've all seen it. You can't let your guard down. There was two minutes left, we're up ten and had the ball, and I was completely worried about the ball. They're capable of making threes, they're smart, just little things. Chauncey came off the pick-and-roll early in the clock, and threw his body into KG, got a foul. They know how to work the clock. Got a quick foul, makes the two free throws. They're just a smart basketball team. So that's what we have to deal with.

End of FastScripts

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