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NBA FINALS: LAKERS v CELTICSJune 10, 2008Doc RiversLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game Three Q. Two more coaching hires obviously made, Tom Thibodeau has not had an opportunity, obviously could not get an opportunity for a job. Just your thoughts on that, and Armond, too? COACH DOC RIVERS: Yeah, I don't know, I think they both should have been -- Tom has been around this game for so long. I just don't get the -- I can understand when you hire someone else, that's fine. I just don't get the no interview part of it. It is what it is. It's not what I'm thinking about right now, if you want me to be honest. And neither is he, to his credit. Q. Obviously you've got more important things to focus on. Just curious if you feel it's the Super Bowl effect with coordinators where teams are disinclined to wait, they just want to make the move? COACH DOC RIVERS: I hope that's the reason. It would be a shame if it was, but I don't know the answer. Q. Looking back at the fourth quarter run that they made in Game 2, after the game you said you guys got too cute offensively, but in the end you guys scored 25 points in that quarter and they scored 41. Looking at the film, what did you see? COACH DOC RIVERS: What I said. We didn't start our offense early at all in the fourth quarter. Overall so far in the series, we've probably started our offense at the 18-second mark for the most part. In the fourth quarter it was probably more like 10 or 12 seconds. So clearly we were trying to use the offense instead of doing what we were doing all game. So that's what I saw. And then defensively we were just bad. We were switching when we shouldn't have been. We let them make seven threes. Give them credit; they had to make some of those shots, and all of them were not easy, but some of them were. So that's what I saw. Q. What was the count on post touches for Kevin in Game 2? COACH DOC RIVERS: The count wasn't bad. The fourth quarter count was bad. It was way down. It was the lowest of the series was in the fourth quarter. Q. Phil was just in here and said that he believes it's effective to talk about the officiating after a game like Game 2 because then you can see sort of an outcome in the next game, that maybe things get called a little bit differently. How do you feel about that? COACH DOC RIVERS: I disagree. I don't think that's true. I think we all try to make that true. We all do it. It doesn't hurt to posture. Having said that, like I told you after the game, I thought we were the team driving and attacking. Sometimes I think when you start talking about being physical, you get that mixed up with fouling. Q. Does Leon, based on his performance in the last game, does he go from being situational to having more of a role? COACH DOC RIVERS: No, he plays the role that he plays, and we would prefer him to play it in that order that he played in the last game. But we don't want him trying to do more. Obviously we'll take what he gave us. The thing I like about Leon, he does what he does. He's not going to go outside of that for the most part. And what I was most happy about was our guys were looking for him. It was battle cry all game, quite honestly. I just didn't think overall we got it done there a lot. Our numbers weren't bad, but I still thought there were more opportunities that presented themselves, and we did it with Leon, which was nice. No, Kevin and Perk, PJ have been playing great, and Leon is in that rotation of four guys, but Kevin plays the most minutes. Q. When you took over at head coach, I imagine you didn't have any experience as a coach. This week you said Vinnie Del Negro and Michael Curry taking over. How difficult is it to come in -- COACH DOC RIVERS: It's not easy, I can tell you that. I think the only advice I would give is just be yourself. Whatever you believe in, stick to it. But be open to change, as well, but stick to your beliefs. That's what's going to make you at the end of the day. Q. Being this is your first experience with a championship as a coach, now that you've had two games, what are some of the things you've dealt with, the difference in the media attention, the time constraints, things like that? How have you handled that and what did you draw upon to get you through this so far? COACH DOC RIVERS: Honestly, nothing. It's just basketball at the end of the day. My workload hasn't changed. I'm still doing the same interviews, it's just more people listening. But the time part of that hasn't changed. Our practices haven't changed. More people get to watch. The games haven't changed; more people are watching. Other than that, we're just playing basketball. Like I tell the players, I have to tell myself, just stay focused on the process. You can't get caught up in anything else. Q. How is Sam's wrist? Is he available tonight? And as far as Paul and Kendrick go, do you think of them as healthy? COACH DOC RIVERS: Yeah, I do. Bottom line, once you walk on the court, the other team does anyway. Paul obviously is fine. I thought that going into the game. Perk obviously by playing the ankle became a little bit more tender, but he'll be fine. And Sam, we're just going to put him out on the floor, and if not, we'll go in another direction. Q. There's been a lot of different story lines in this series about Kobe and Shaq and Phil Jackson and Red Auerbach and Paul Pierce coming home and now Kevin Garnett having this tremendous career and not having a championship ultimately successful, and now two games away. Have you noticed any difference in Kevin given the situation your team is in now? COACH DOC RIVERS: It's a good question. He can't get any more intense. I don't think it's humanly possible. You know what I'm saying? He's just so intense. So you don't see much change with him. You can almost make the case all year. But definitely, obviously, he's more focused and more intense during the playoffs. I see the same guy every day. You know, I just try to remind him that his want-to can't get in the way of doing his job. Sometimes you want it so bad that it kind of blocks you from performing. So as a group we talk about that a lot. Q. I know this media is belaboring the obvious, but Paul is coming home here, LA is a glitsy, glamorous city. Do you have to remind these guys what's at stake and this is a business trip? COACH DOC RIVERS: No, I hope not, and if I do, you will first. Honestly, no, it was talked about in the locker room, I'll tell you that much, but it wasn't by me, which was even better. End of FastScripts |
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