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NBA FINALS: CELTIC v LAKERS

June 17, 2010

Doc Rivers

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game Seven

Boston Celtics 79
Los Angeles Lakers 83

DOC RIVERS: Well, I'm going to open up before questions start and congratulate the Lakers, number one. It was a hell of a series, and you know, it was just a tough, tough game for either team to lose. I thought both teams played terrific. I thought both teams played hard, and I think it goes to show you that you can have 83-79 game and it can be a great game because both teams played great defense. You could see that. It was tough getting shots.
I thought the lack of size at the end of the day was the difference in the game. I thought our guys battled down there, but 23-8, you know, on offensive rebounds, and then the 37-17 discrepancy in free throws, that makes it almost impossible to overcome.
But I told my guys after the game I couldn't be more prouder of the group than I've ever been around. We're not going to be the same team next year. Guys are going to not be there, so that was tough for me. But again, I was just proud.

Q. As the game was unfolding, did you kind of think, hey, this is the kind of game, a Game 7 on the road, that we want?
DOC RIVERS: Yeah, we liked the game. We liked the game plan going in. We got Rondo on the break. We knew with Rasheed and Kevin on the floor that we would get more at-the-basket attacks because of the spacing on the floor. I thought a couple things hurt us - when Rasheed started getting the cramps, that was a killer for us because they attacked our lack of size after that, and then it made me, forced me to extend Kevin's minutes, which I know is not good, because once he goes over that number, it's tough for him to come back.
And so I thought that hurt us. But it was exactly the type of game that we wanted. I thought there were a couple big plays. Fisher's three I thought the biggest single shot in the game, and Kobe's three-point foul I thought were the two biggest plays. They were close -- we always hoped they wouldn't go on a roll. Neither of team did but they were close and those two shots bailed them out.

Q. When Kobe wasn't shooting well for most of the game, were you still expecting at some point Kobe is going to find a way to impact --
DOC RIVERS: Yeah, clearly. He didn't have to. Artest was unbelievable. The three Artest made, you think about some of the shots they made, late clock, three by Artest, Fisher's rainbow over Rondo, and then again the foul call on Ray, that's nine points. They scored 30 points in the fourth quarter, and for us, a defensive group, that's the toughest part to swallow, that we gave up 30 points. We scored 22, but we gave up 30.

Q. I was wondering if you could describe one offensive rebound in particular in that last minute when Pau got the rebound and it looked like he got caught with Rondo on him and you guys were trying to get the matchups right.
DOC RIVERS: Yeah, we were trying to trap and we got caught. I don't know, I thought Rondo boxed him out. He went over his back, but they're not going to call that with the size advantage.
You know, Kobe makes you trap, and it's what we really don't want to do because of the mismatches. Yeah, it was a big rebound.

Q. Talk about when you guys just basically couldn't score at all and they went on that run.
DOC RIVERS: Yeah, I thought we stopped playing a little bit. I thought we had great motion and movement throughout the game, and in that one stretch we stopped, and it hurt us, because they were scoring. One of the things I was trying to get our group to understand is we can go on scoring droughts but they can't score. The problem was we went on that drought and they scored.

Q. Does part of you wonder what might have been on the rebounding battle if you had Perk?
DOC RIVERS: Yeah, but you know, he wasn't there, so.... yeah, for sure.

Q. Do you think just if he was in there that that would have changed that a lot?
DOC RIVERS: I can't say. I know, and I told our guys this, the starting lineup still hasn't lost. It was a shame we didn't have that starting lineup tonight. But I told them, you're still yet to have a true chance to defend your title because Perk wasn't there.
But listen, give the Lakers credit. They were terrific.

Q. You seem emotional now --
DOC RIVERS: I am. We just lost a Game 7, and with a terrific group. I mean, this group, they were awesome.

Q. You just said, "we're not going to be the same team next year." What is it like to reflect on that considering the ride you've been on with these guys over the last three years, pretty much the same group?
DOC RIVERS: Yeah, it's tough. You know, I can't reflect on it right now. Probably in a week or so I'll go hide somewhere for a while. But you know, it was the craziest, most emotional group I've ever coached in my life. I told them, they made me reach to places that I never thought I needed to go, I had to go. But through it all, we were the tightest most emotional crazy group that I've ever been with in my life.
So that's what makes it tough.

Q. Some guys might not be around next year. What are you thinking about you for next year? Because you've talked about it at points throughout the season.
DOC RIVERS: I don't know. I'm going to wait. I'm going to go and watch my kids play AAU basketball, and I'm going to wait for a little bit.

Q. When you just look at the entire season, the adversity from training camp to yesterday to now, just describe, I guess, what you guys went through, and then what is the emotion level in the locker room right now?
DOC RIVERS: Well, there's a lot of crying in our locker room, a lot of people who care. I don't think there was a dry eye. A lot of hugs, a lot of people feeling awful. That's a good thing. You know, that means everybody cared.
I just can't stress enough how crazy close this team was, you know, and that would be the word, crazy close. They're the type of group that they could scream at each other but no one pick on any of them. That's a special group.

Q. Can you just talk about the things you went through all year, just how many different things, just to get to this point.
DOC RIVERS: Well, listen, we had a goal before the year was started, and we didn't say we weren't going to go through some trials and tribulations, we just had a goal to get here, and that was our goal, and to win it. So whatever we had to go through was worth it, the injuries, the chemistry, just everything. It was worth it at the end of the day, and I think every guy would tell you that.

Q. You guys were up by four points when the Lakers called time-out at about the 9:00 mark. What was going through your thoughts and what were you trying to convey to your team at that time?
DOC RIVERS: Just gather them, gather the team. I thought that was the stretch where they were making a run, and I called that early time-out. I was just trying to get our guys gathered back. I thought we were coming apart a little bit as far as our execution, and I was just trying to get them to get back to trusting what we were doing on both ends.

Q. Could you just talk a little bit about what you got from Rasheed tonight.
DOC RIVERS: Yeah. He was a warrior. You know, I don't know if Rasheed will ever play again. You know, he's one of them. I think he took that out on the floor with him. I think he is thinking about retiring, and I thought you could see that in his play. He was dying out there. When he got the cramps and the strains, he was just trying to figure out a way of staying on the floor.
We had to keep subbing him for one minute and two minutes, and I thought the reason we got up early was because of Rasheed Wallace. We got it low in the post, he started scoring, and I thought what happened was late in the game he got tired and had the injuries and we couldn't go down anymore, and I think that had a huge impact on how we were playing. We had to go away from the post almost because of fatigue. You know, it's the first time all year that you can actually say at the end of the day we were old at the end of the game because we didn't have a enough bodies. I thought it hurt us.

Q. Can you also talk about what Rondo has meant to the team throughout this time.
DOC RIVERS: He's key. Rondo plays well, we play well. His growth has been amazing. Just happy that as a coach I was part of it. It was amazing.
Thank you, everybody. Appreciate it. Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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