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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CELTICS v MAGICMay 21, 2010Doc RiversBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Practice Day Q. Doc, Orlando is expected to make match-up changes. How does that affect you guys? DOC RIVERS: It doesn't affect us. I mean, when you're down 2-0, you do make some changes. We have to anticipate that. But they're not going to make many changes. I say it all the time, we are who we are. They are who they are. They are just going to try to do it better. You know Barnes or Pietrus will probably guard Paul, and Vince will go to Ray. That's how a lot of us thought it would start in this series. Now they're just going back to that. They'll go bigger more with Gortat and Howard in, so those are changes you would expect. And we're going to keep working and trying to better our play as well. Because we know both games could have gone either way. So it's not like we've done anything that special as far as we're concerned. Q. Can you talk about the last series -- you said you weren't too happy with the practices between games two and three. DOC RIVERS: Yeah, we had good practices. That won't be an excuse. We had a short practice yesterday. It was a little bit longer today. No, I think we'll be ready. Q. Do you prepare differently? They made changes -- DOC RIVERS: No, we're going to do the same thing. Like I said in the Cleveland series, some teams have the ability to go small, big and change. We, unfortunately or fortunately, do not. So we're just going to be who we are and try to be the best at that. Q. The last time you guys had a long layoff there was talk you lost focus -- DOC RIVERS: This is better. I thought our guys had better focus. And I thought we handled it better too. Q. How much does the playoff experience to this point differ for you from two years ago? DOC RIVERS: Oh, I don't know if any of them are different, honestly. I mean, this one seems like it's gone quicker in some ways, because, you know, the Miami series went so quick for us. But other than that, preparation, time or anything else, it's not that big of a difference. There's been more rests in between games, because in 2008, we went 7-7. So we were leaving a series going into another series. So the prep time was shorter. Other than that, there's no difference. Q. You played teams that were red-hot, and yet you thought it is harder -- DOC RIVERS: It is harder because we're playing, you can make a case, better teams without home court. But other than that, you have to just play. And you have to play to the best of your ability and try to win each game. I think our guys have done a better job in some ways of narrowing games down to one game, and not thinking as a series. Q. It seems like your guys are not only physically tough, but mentally tough. When you bring players in, is that the quality you are looking for, guys who are mentally tough? DOC RIVERS: That's what you hope. But you don't know a player until you coach him. You think he's mentally tough and then you get him and it's like wow. And sometimes you don't know. You never know. Sometimes they are more than you thought so. But you're never sure. Q. How do you evaluate the guys from the bench during the course of the playoffs? DOC RIVERS: It's been huge. We've clearly shortened our bench. But when they're in, they've done a great job. We've been able to throw Shelden in in one game, and he was terrific. We just harp on everybody being ready. You never know with foul trouble and injuries. I tell Nate and Marquis every day there's going to be a point at some point in these playoffs that they're going to make a contribution, and they have to stay ready. I think our bench has that attitude. Q. (Indiscernible)? DOC RIVERS: Well, the challenge is trying to get proper rest and proper work at the same time. Keeping their edge, which is almost impossible with a stretch like this. But more importantly, trying to keep their rhythm. I think we did that. You never know honestly until the game starts. When you're up 2-0, you would rather play a game a day later. But we couldn't do that. We knew that. In the long run it may be better for us. We're not a young team. You guys have told me that every chance you get. And so we're not, and so it probably does help us in some ways. Q. (Indiscernible)? DOC RIVERS: I just watch more film. I probably drive my staff crazy. Because the more film you watch, the more things you see, and you have to just kind of cut the temptation off of change. Because we're not a team of change. We haven't been. When you have this much time, you want to put in five new plays and run two new defensive schemes. And you know it's not smart. So you end up not doing it. It's in your pocket now. So that's not bad. Q. All this talking about them being feisty probably tomorrow night. Perk was saying you told them you have to keep -- be very cool. DOC RIVERS: We want to be feisty. They should be feisty and we should too. It's the playoffs. It's Game 3. We're trying to defend our home turf. They're trying to take it away. Every reason they should be feisty. It should be and it will be. And we should be feisty too. Obviously you want to always keep your head. That doesn't mean to back down. That means you have to play with composure, you have to play with intensity, and you have to play hard. Q. Doc, you scored 32 points 22 years ago yesterday against the Celtics in a playoff game. DOC RIVERS: I did? Danny Ainge was a horrendous defender if that's true. Q. What do you remember about that game? What do you remember about playing those Celtics? DOC RIVERS: I don't really remember the game, honestly. Was it in the playoffs? Game 5? Game 6? I remember we lost. The tough part about being a player in my generation, whenever they show me on TV, it usually means you lost. Because it was only Bird won, Magic won and Michael won. Everybody else lost. Every time I'm on, I lost. My kids remind me of that every time they see it. That's what I do remember. I remember we had a chance of closing that series out in Atlanta. I remember it should have been Casey Jones' last game, because he was going to retire after the year. I think I remember also a blocked shot on Danny Ainge by the guy standing here that they called a goaltending. Q. Doc, how has Perk developed as a low-post player from when you first got him to where he is now? DOC RIVERS: He's so much better. I just think more of it is education. Since he's been here, we've tried to not trap a lot with Perk. And he's had to learn the hard way by guarding tough guys, not getting a lot of help. And over the long haul, I think he has gotten better and better at it. His feet are great. He knows -- studies film. I just think he's had a great education from the bigs throughout the time. When Kevin came, it gave him another guy to back him up, if he did get beat. I thought that made him even better. I think he's more secure in his helps and more secure guarding his guy, because he knows there's another big next to him that is just as serious about defense as he is. Q. Did you always encourage that? DOC RIVERS: We've always encouraged it. We identified early on what we thought he could be. I think it takes some time for you to buy into that. I think everybody wants to be a scorer. Everybody wants to be a great scorer. That's the way it works. End of FastScripts |
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