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NBA FINALS: LAKERS v CELTICSJune 5, 2008Doc RiversBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Game One Q. Celtics-Lakers means a lot to the fans, it means a lot to the legends. Do you think it matters to the Celtics anymore, the players on today's team, to play the Lakers as opposed to the or anybody else? COACH DOC RIVERS: I think it matters, I don't know how much, but when you play for the Celtics, you get a history lesson, and our guys know the Celtic history since the day they've walked in the door. So I do think it matters. You know, I don't know how much or anything like that. Q. How concerned are you about the pace of this game? And also, what's your message to Rondo for this first game? COACH DOC RIVERS: Play. Just play. It's been my message to all of them all week. It's basketball. It's no different than the last game you played in Detroit; it's still basketball. I'm not concerned about the pace. I like when we're an up-tempo team. We just don't like when the other team is an up-tempo team. We don't mind running, we just want to be the only team that does it. Q. Talk about the role Thibodeau plays in all this. COACH DOC RIVERS: He's great. He's been our defensive leader. That's why I hired him. He plays a big role. I try to talk about him a lot, but I try to talk about all my assistants honestly, because they all play a role. That's why they call it a coaching staff. So they all play a big role. He's been great. We had to get the guys to buy into the system, and they have. Obviously, you're as good as your players, and Garnett obviously is the reason. Q. Is there anything that he says over what he normally would say about containing Kobe and the role that players -- COACH DOC RIVERS: No, we don't change as much as people think we do. That's fine that everyone thinks we do. But we've been pretty much a solid defensive team all year. We're not going to recreate the wheel tonight. We're going to play Celtic defense the way we've played all year. Q. Are you going to activate Tony, and -- COACH DOC RIVERS: Yes. Q. What is his status right now? COACH DOC RIVERS: I am going to activate Tony, which is good. I'm glad he can go. We're still not sure how much he can give us, and if we need him, we'll use him. You know, the rotation we've used to get here is probably the one we'll stay with for the most part, unless we feel we need him. If we need him, you'll know, because that means Kobe is playing extremely well. Q. You won Game 1 of all three series you've played. Any time any series has been tied you've won the next game, so you've never been behind in any series. What, if anything, does that suggest? And is this a team that's more comfortable playing in front? COACH DOC RIVERS: Well, I don't know the answer because we haven't been behind. And if I have my choice, I would rather be that team that's in front. So let's just keep that trend going. I think that would be terrific. Q. Perk has been really effective against length in the playoffs. Is that really one of the major keys, his effectiveness against Gasol? COACH DOC RIVERS: Yeah, Perk has been tremendous the last four games, and he's really kind of taken his game to a different level as far as his focus. His rebounding focus, to me, sets his game up and then that leads him to the defense and to all the other little things. I think when he has that single-minded focus that anytime someone shoots it's his ball, I think he becomes a better player overall. We just want to keep him in that place, and we hope we can keep him in that place. This is a tougher match-up because of Gasol's quickness. I think his quickness is underplayed a little bit. He's terrific down in the post and great spin move, baseline spin move, and he likes to use it, and we have to keep him off of it. Q. As far as the day of this Game 1 of The Finals, and you guys have been chomping at the bit now for six days, how did you spread out the day for them? And what's been your message about what you want their mindset to be today? COACH DOC RIVERS: Well, I didn't. We had shootaround like we've had it all through the playoffs, and I said goodbye, I don't want to see you again until game time. That's about it. Our guys are pretty comfortable. They've been pretty comfortable throughout this, and that's all you do. What we've talked about a lot is our goal was not to get here. It's more than that. We've been congratulated all week, but we haven't done what we want. Just keep that focus, and that's all I've talked about. Q. You mentioned everybody comes here and gets a Celtic history lesson. Before this year, obviously they've struggled many years before you got here, was that hard to live up to or to carry? COACH DOC RIVERS: No, it's a good question. When I took a job, a lot of coaches called me and said, wow, why would you go there when you've got to deal with Bird and Cousy and everybody else? I actually thought that was an odd question. I thought it was good. I've always embraced it. When I took the job I wrote every single ex-Celtic with the exception of Jeff Twiss and invited them back, wanted them to come to practice. If we were on the road I would have liked them to come. I think it's something you can use as an asset, not something that should drag you down. It's been great. Just for me personally getting to know some of the legends. I had never met John Havlicek until I became the coach of the Celtics, and he's always been one of my favorite players. I think he's been huge and to our advantage for sure. Q. For what it's worth, a lot of people are picking against the Celtics despite the fact that you guys have the best record. Do the players know and do they care? COACH DOC RIVERS: They do care. You can use it, but at the end of the day you've got to play basketball. Whether they pick you or don't, you still have to play basketball. But you can actually use it. Guys take it personal, they do. They understand that eight out of ten, nine out of ten people have picked the Lakers. Whatever. Like I told them at the start of the year, the questions will never stop. They'll never stop about Rondo, they've never stop about me, they'll never stop about Kevin, they'll never stop about Paul, they'll never stop about our team, and you can't take it personally. It's part of it. Just go out and just keep playing, and that's all you can do. You can control it with your play, and that's what I tell our guys. Q. I'm sure you've heard this a lot and you've experienced it, this lay-off, a lot of people thought it was too long. What's your opinion on that, and did it play in your favor? COACH DOC RIVERS: I don't know if it played in either team's favor. I would say that both teams would have probably preferred to play on Tuesday if we could have. But the rest was probably good for us. We've been in that every-other-day for -- I don't know, you guys know, 30 days, whatever. I actually like that rhythm, and I kept saying that. But I do think the rest was not a bad thing, especially for Kevin. We extended him minutes. He's the only guy I'm ever concerned with minutes. Everyone else, I'm not that concerned. I would have to say I think it had to help us, but I don't know the answer to it until we get out on the floor. End of FastScripts |
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