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NBA FINALS: CELTIC v LAKERS

June 3, 2010

Doc Rivers

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game One

Boston Celtics 89
Los Angeles Lakers 102

Q. I'm just wondering, with all the fouls called, did the Celtics have trouble getting into a rhythm or were the fouls a result of your physical defense or just gambling a little too much?
DOC RIVERS: I thought the fouls were called because they were more physical. I thought the Lakers were clearly the more physical team today. I thought they were more aggressive. I thought they attacked us the entire night, and you know, I've always thought the team that is the most aggressive gets better calls. That's just human nature.
I just thought they attacked us the entire night. I didn't think we handled it very well. They killed us on the glass. The 50/50 game was 17-4 them, impossible to win on the road when you lose that bad in the 50/50 game. So I thought it was more that, yeah, the rhythm was impossible for us to get any rhythm because they either got an offensive rebound, they scored or they shot a free throw. There wasn't a lot of times where we could get the ball to Rondo in the open court.
But I thought it was their play. I thought they were terrific today. I thought they were by far the more physical team.

Q. Why do you think that was?
DOC RIVERS: I don't know. We'll watch it on film and fix it, though.

Q. What did you think of the defense?
DOC RIVERS: It was horrible. I thought we hugged up on guys all night. That wasn't our defense tonight, I can tell you that. Give them credit, they moved the ball, they spaced the floor very well. But we didn't shrink the floor at all tonight. In the first half, you know, it made the bigs look bad because they were getting offensive rebounds but it wasn't the bigs' fault, it was the guards dribbling down the middle of the lane. Our bigs have to help, they miss a shot and their bigs get an offensive rebound. They didn't control the dribble at all. Before the game we told them the key to the game was rebounding, dribble penetration. We stop those two things, we'll be in good shape, but we didn't do either one.

Q. How do you get that interior defense?
DOC RIVERS: We've got to help. We've got to show our help better. It's fixable, but we have to do it.

Q. Rajon doesn't often get played by a two-guard who's 6'6", 210. What do you think Kobe's impact was?
DOC RIVERS: I thought he did a terrific job. I thought we fell back into trying to score on him instead of just running the offense. I thought overall offensively we didn't move the ball much. We had that one stretch in the fourth quarter when Nate and that group was in, the ball, we got the second and third pass, but we didn't trust it enough.
But Rondo has seen that. That's nothing new for Rondo.

Q. 16-0 second chance points. You dealt with it earlier, but is that positioning, effort?
DOC RIVERS: It's not effort. You know, at least I hope not. We're in The Finals. But again, I just thought it was their guards. I thought they just attacked the paint the whole night. I didn't think we handled the dribble penetration well at all. On our end, when we did get into the post, I thought it was pretty good, and we have to do that more.

Q. At the end of three quarters you being outrebounded 34-17, I'm just wondering if you recall a differential that big. It was a 20-point game --
DOC RIVERS: I don't know if I recall one, but I know if there was one, we lost that game, too. I can guarantee you that. They killed us on the glass.
But you know, like I said, it wasn't the bigs as much as it was our guards. We did not handle their guards off the dribble. They were in the paint, Shannon Brown, Kobe, Fisher, I mean, it was a parade down the paint. We take pride in our defense, and we didn't do it -- I think, I don't know what it was, I think they had 84 going into the fourth. But we're better than that defensively. Well, we have to be better than that defensively.

Q. Kevin Garnett didn't have a great series offensively versus the Magic. Today he struggled, as well. Will you try to involve him more in the next game?
DOC RIVERS: Yeah, we'd better. We have to. Got to slow him down a little bit. I thought as a team we were too fast. First game excitement, whatever. I thought offensively we were too fast the entire game for the most part. Missed a lot of great shots at the basket as a team, three or four lay-ups, but their length makes you do that, as well. But we have to get him involved more.

Q. Could you talk about any silver lining that you saw for your team tonight. And the play of Brown and Farmar for them?
DOC RIVERS: Well, their bench outplayed our bench. I thought Rasheed was terrific. I said before the game happened, he just got exhausted. You knew it was going to happen when you don't practice for five days and he couldn't practice. You knew the wind was going to be a factor, and it was.
But I didn't see any silver lining. The only silver lining is I guess as bad as I thought we played, there were chances to get back in the game. But there's no silver lining in that.

Q. There were a couple of points where it seemed like Ray got frustrated guarding Kobe. Do you think that affected him?
DOC RIVERS: No, I just thought foul trouble. Ray didn't have a chance to play tonight. He was in foul trouble for the entire game and took his rhythm off. He actually started out the game like he was going to have a big game, but then he picked up the fouls. We have to make an adjustment there, that's for sure.

Q. You talked about it's impossible to get in a rhythm tonight, do you feel like the layoff hurt you guys at all?
DOC RIVERS: No, they had four. It could have, you know, but no. Both teams had a lot of time off. I thought it was more the foul trouble, the offensive rebounds and the fact they were shooting about 56 percent at one point. I thought that was more of it.

Q. Rajon Rondo hasn't played particularly well since the Cleveland series and Nate Robinson came in the game for you today. Do you plan on using Nate Robinson any more in the series?
DOC RIVERS: Well, you must be in the Nate Robinson fan club clearly. Nate has played well, but I think Rondo is pretty good. I've got a feeling he's going to keep playing a lot.

Q. How was the version of Gasol different tonight than what you saw in 2008?
DOC RIVERS: He was more aggressive. He attacked us. I thought he was the best player on the floor. I thought he made terrific plays, terrific passes, shot when he should shoot. Yeah, he's better. He's far more aggressive. If you heard for two years what you couldn't do, you're probably going to come in and try to prove that, and I thought Gasol proved a lot tonight.

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