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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: PISTONS v CELTICS

May 26, 2008

Doc Rivers

DETROIT, MICHIGAN: Game Four

Q. Doc, you shot like 31, 32 percent. Was it your lack of ball movement, their defense? What was the problem?
COACH DOC RIVERS: Probably a combination of both. You know, I thought we overall in the game -- we talked about it at halftime, in the first four plays we came out and did the exact thing we talked about that we shouldn't do. We took the extra dribble and made the pass instead of making the pass. But give Detroit credit. I thought they bumped us off spots, were more physical, were more aggressive all night.
Usually the win goes to the team that's more aggressive, and it was them. It happened. It shouldn't have happened, but it did.

Q. You talked about the winner being the more aggressive team, but you were the guys that were clearly getting to the line a lot more.
COACH DOC RIVERS: We did that well, and that kept us in the game. In the first quarter it was more them, how I thought that's what got them the lead early. But then after that it was us. We did attack the basket, which is something we have to do. But we missed so many open guys tonight with the pass. It was not one of our better nights.
Give them credit because I just thought they were so much more physical than us the entire game, in every way. They bumped us up the floor, they bumped us, every cut we made there was a body. Every time we had a chance to get to the basket, they threw us down. They had a no lay-up rule clearly, that's why we laid on the line. Even though we got to the line, they were the more physical team by a long shot.

Q. Did it seem like there was no a lay-up rule or there was a lot more --
COACH DOC RIVERS: I just thought they were more physical. They decided that they were going to come into this game and they were going to be physical with us, one through five, and I thought they did that.

Q. McDyess opens the second half with three fouls, was not getting him one or two more in that third quarter, was that a missed opportunity for you guys?
COACH DOC RIVERS: Yeah, we had our chances, though. They were trapping a little bit when Kevin got in there, protecting him. But I just thought we missed opportunities to do it.
We got it down there, the ball went back out, it never got back in. And that's part of -- actually our first three possessions, I thought Kevin was right there and the ball should have been there, and it never got there.
But you can't play to get a guy fouls, you just have to play and run your stuff, if you know what I mean. But through our stuff I thought the right guy was open and the ball never found him.

Q. Could you talk about McDyess and his performance tonight.
COACH DOC RIVERS: He's been good all but one game, really. He's been the X factor for them in a lot of ways. He's made a lot of big shots for them. He's very comfortable right now, and we've got to get him out of his comfort zone. Right now he's extremely comfortable. He's making a lot of shots, but they're good, open shots for him, and he makes those shots.
You know, they shot 51 percent tonight. I look at Rip Hamilton, 8 for 10, and McDyess 8 for 14, that's too efficient. It's tough to beat that.

Q. Just talk about Pierce, Allen and Garnett offensively tonight. And also, you guys kept having a chance but never could seem to get over that hump.
COACH DOC RIVERS: Yeah, we did. It's funny, when you look at the game, we didn't play great tonight, clearly, but there were three-point games, five-point games, three-point games. We hung in there by getting to the foul line, but then we just couldn't make plays tonight. I thought our guys had the right spirit tonight. I thought they wanted to play. I thought Detroit attacked more, though, and I thought that was the difference.

Q. Can I ask you offensively about the Big Three.
COACH DOC RIVERS: They didn't play great. Kevin had shots that he normally makes and didn't make them. I just thought he didn't have shots when we wanted to get him the ball. He had a lot of jumpers and elbow jumpers instead of getting them on the post and establishing the post game through him. I thought we kept going away from that.

Q. I know you want all your players to react off this loss, but you were talking to us in particular about Kevin yesterday and his intensity. Knowing what you know about him, how will he react?
COACH DOC RIVERS: He'll be fine. He'll be tough on himself, which is always good. Self-motivation is the best. But all our guys were disappointed because they knew they didn't play well, and yet they knew they still had a chance to win the game throughout the game. You know, and that gives them in some ways a little bit of confidence, even though the score wouldn't justify having that.
You know, we didn't play very well, and it was a three-point game a lot of different times in the second half.

Q. How important is it to get both of your point guards going?
COACH DOC RIVERS: Well, it's important to get one of them going for sure. And that's basically what we've done so far. In the last game I thought they both played pretty well. But they've just got to make plays. It's not about them getting going offensively as much as making plays offensively as far as setting everyone else up. I think that's more important.

Q. When you say Kevin was going for the jumpers more and getting on the block, is that more of a reflection on the offense or more on him?
COACH DOC RIVERS: No, it's more a reflection on the offense, definitely not him. There were times where I just thought we didn't get it to him, and then he ended up floating out because of the ball being on the other side. He was running out setting picks. But we didn't do a good job of establishing him to the post, and we have to do a better of job of that, and then we have to do a better job of spacing.
Kevin did the right thing. We got it to him on the post and he gave it back up because they were doubling. He's a smart ballplayer and he does the right thing, but then you have to repost it and we didn't do that very well.

End of FastScripts

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