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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CELTICS v MAGIC

May 26, 2010

Doc Rivers

ORLANDO, FLORIDA: Game Five

Orlando Magic: 113
Boston Celtics: 92

Q. On top of everything else that happened, they hit 13 threes tonight. You know your perimeter defense, I know that was a goal of yours, what happened?
COACH RIVERS: Yeah, yeah, our goal was five. They played a great game tonight. I mean, give them credit. They moved the ball. You know, I thought a lot of the threes they had, also Murph was extra effort plays. I thought the biggest three they made was Barnes' three when we cut it to 6 to start the third. He gets an offensive rebound, I think it was 5 seconds on the shot clock, we don't close out, gets the three and gets them comfortable again.
You know, they are a great team when they get a lead, because then those threes are easy. And I never thought we supplied any pressure to them in the game tonight. I thought we made runs, but no real pressure. For us it's very difficult to score when you're taking the ball out of bounds every single time. It obviously hurts Rondo the most in that situation, even though I thought he played a pretty good game.

Q. Could you just talk a little about just the tempo tonight? It never seemed to be where you guys wanted it to be. Was that a function of what they were doing or what you guys were not doing?
COACH RIVERS: I think it's more a function of what they were doing. They were making shots. It's tough to get a tempo when you don't create misses. We talked about multiple misses means multiple runs for us. It was not a lot of multiple misses by them. They shot 52%, so tough to get any type of tempo offensively.

Q. Can you give us an update on Baby and Marquis?
COACH RIVERS: I didn't ask. Baby, I know, is a concussion. I don't know how bad. I know he blacked out on the floor. I was just trying to get him to get back down on offense at the time. And Marquis, same thing, he blacked out as well and got hit. Lot of elbows.

Q. What did you think of the technicals on Perk? And you know if they both stand he's suspended for the next game?
COACH RIVERS: Didn't think he deserved either one, but he got them. You know what happens, it's amazing. We talked about this before the game, the double technical thing. Perk was bending down, picking the ball up, and got a tech for being around. I don't know how he got that tech.
The other tech, listen, when you're arguing, it was awful quick, but they called it. I did think Eddie Rush realized once he called it, he couldn't rescind the tech because he forgot they had given him the other one. I don't think Perk would have gotten that one, but that happens.
Listen, we've put ourselves in that position, and like I told our guys, you can't make any excuses. If they don't stand, then somebody else just has to step forward for you and that's just the way it is.

Q. Can you talk about the idea of Perkins and Baby, and Rasheed also dealing with injuries in for the next game?
COACH RIVERS: It's not a pleasant thought. I mean, Rasheed tweaked his back on that one play. Baby, I guess, I don't know what kind of test they're going to do with Baby because he's a little delirious half the time anyway, so I don't know how he's going to pass a test. I'm worried about that. But I guess he's going to have to do something for them to clear him. Then Marquis too, so it is what it is.

Q. Follow up on Perkins. Do you think he gets technicals on his reputation now?
COACH RIVERS: Well, I would love to answer that, but I'll let you guys answer that. I would love to answer that. Over the summer, we can have coffee and I may answer that. But I'm not going to answer that right now.
Perk plays hard. He looks mean. He's a great guy. I'll leave it at that.

Q. Can you talk about the psyche of the series with them losing momentum?
COACH RIVERS: Yeah, they really have. They stole the game in Boston, which we had a chance to close out but didn't do it. Tonight they were the better team. They played better than us tonight. We make no excuses.
I thought we came to play. I thought the first half was competitive, and it just got away from us with all the fouls and the technicals and the injuries. I thought we got a little sidetracked on that. I do think the team that's been the most physical has won the games. I thought it was us for the first three, and I think it's been Orlando for the last two.
Just like they did, you know, we're not going to do anything tomorrow. We're going to just get on the plane and hopefully everybody gets their rest, and we'll show up and be ready at our place. That's why we earned the right to have this game and we're going to try to take advantage of it.

Q. Dwight Howard kind of laid to waste your guys, just one after another knocking guys out of the game. Can you talk about how he played, how he did that, and what you think?
COACH RIVERS: Yeah, I didn't know that was legal, but anyway, he did. But listen, he's a physical guy. We know that, and he should be. That is his gift. Honestly, that's his gift. So he's doing what he should do, and we've just got to do a better job of taking the hits, I guess, you know.

Q. You guys are still ahead in the series, but is there a sense you need to win in Boston and not come back here?
COACH RIVERS: Well, yeah, but we need to win one game, and let's hope it's the next one. If it takes coming back here, we'll be ready for that too. But we'd like to do the next one.

Q. Dwight Howard, want to get back to him. The blocks at the defensive end I thought were an important part of the Orlando Magic success early to help grow their lead.
COACH RIVERS: Well, that's what he does. He's the best defensive player in the league by far right now. I don't know, I guess, LeBron. So that's what he does. When you go to the basket and he leaves. The one thing I thought we did better in the first couple games we were throwing the dump-off pass. I don't think he had a block in the first game or second -- one of the games he didn't, and that's because we were making the extra pass.
I did think as a group we got into a stretch where each guy was trying to make a play for the team, and we're not very good when we do that, honestly. It's usually just let the ball find the open guy and keep it simple.
But I did think that overall our guys felt the game getting away. You could feel them, you could see them trying to will the game individually, and that's not a selfish thing, but it hurts the team. So we've just got to get back to being who we are.

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