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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CELTICS v HEATMay 31, 2012Doc RiversBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Practice Day Q. Doc, I'm sure you watched the video a few times. Aside from the officiating, what do you take away from last night as far as what you can do and need to improve on for Game 3? COACH DOC RIVERS: You know, the game was basically like I saw it. We played very well, but we didn't ‑‑ we played very hard like I said in the press conference last night, Gary, but there were times we didn't play very smart. On our defensive rotations, I thought that there were a lot of things that we did that we shouldn't have done, and we should have been in the spots to prevent some of the drives late in the game. I thought our transition D at times broke down with our discipline. So as well as we played offensively, then at times as well as we played defensively, I just thought that there are a lot of things that the guys will see on film that they won't be happy with. And that's a good thing too, because those are very fixable. Q. Mentally, how do you get the guys over the demoralizing defeat after you played you said so well and so hard and obviously had a chance to win? COACH DOC RIVERS: Well, you still have to play so smart. You know what I mean? You have to do more to win, and I think our guys will see that. We're trying to break this wall down, and we're chipping away at it. That's the way I look at it. We made vast improvements from Game 1 to Game 2 and we have to make even more improvements to Game 3.  And I think we will. Q. Doc, when a guy like Chalmers does what he does, or Haslem, do you kind of have to take that because you're trying so hard to focus on James and Wade? COACH DOC RIVERS: No, that has to be taken away. We want to stop James and Wade. We also want to stop Chalmers and Haslem and everyone else. That's what our defense does. Chalmers made some shots, and you have to give him credit. Our defense broke down on several of those shots. (Indiscernible) But I would say in the 12 points of those were more our fault. Even through help we should have been there. And I'll say almost all of Haslem's were defensive breakdowns. So those are the ones you can't have. Q. Doc, as far as your rotations, as far as‑‑ will you try anything different? Will you go with any other personnel? Or were you happy with the way things worked out? COACH DOC RIVERS: I was happy with the plan. I was not happy with how we followed through on the plan (Indiscernible.) We're going to tweak some things, but not much. We just have to do it better. Q. How will the guys do you think respond when obviously your margin for error now is none, as far as winning games, you have to have probably the next two? COACH DOC RIVERS: I think we'll be fine. Listen, we have two games at home. And we have to take one at a time. And if we win those two games at home, then it's a tie series. That's how we have to look at it. But you also have to understand just going home is not going to be a cinch. We have to perform well, we have to play with the same intensity, and then we have to carry it through and defend for 48 minutes. That's what it takes to win against any team. Not just Miami. Q. Doc, you said last night that you thought your guys might have been distracted by the way some of the things went last night. How do you sort of get them past that distraction? And do you feel like the way the free‑throws have lined up is more of a product of Miami attacking more than you all or is there something more to that? COACH DOC RIVERS: I'm not going to touch that. I have to tell you that. I think Paul Pierce attacked just as much as LeBron James attacked last night. So I'll leave it at that, okay? We'll get past that distraction. Listen, after the game there's nothing wrong with being distracted. Today I think we've already moved past it. And by tomorrow we'll be ready to play. Q. Doc, you've been in the league a long time as a player and coach. You know the aggressive stars get to the free‑throw line. You have some of them. They have some of them. Because they have James and Wade, do you build it in that you know they're going to shoot a lot of free‑throws? COACH DOC RIVERS: Yeah, they are going to shoot a lot of free‑throws. But we have to as well. And I thought Rondo was extremely aggressive last night, and I thought Paul was aggressive last night, even more so when you watch the film. Paul is a powerful guy, and there's a lot of contact as well when he drives. So we just want them to continue to be aggressive. You know LeBron and Wade will be. And there's nothing wrong with it. That's who they are. So you know going into it they are going to get to the free‑throw line. But we have to get there as well and we have to do it by being just as aggressive. Q. Doc, I was wondering if you had a chance when you watched film to maybe appreciate or what do you recognize from Rondo's performance that maybe you didn't recognize in the game? COACH DOC RIVERS: Pretty muchsaw it. Honestly, there's a lot of games where Rondo and Paul and all of our guys where after the game, you watch it and you say wow, I knew he was good. I (Indiscernible) knew he was that good. But that was pretty much in front of me last night. What I was happy with is Rondo had in my mind one of his best games of not only doing what he wanted to do, he took what they gave him and made something from that. I thought of all the adjustments he made from Game 1 to Game 2, that was it. If they gave him the elbow jumpshot, he took it. If they got on him, he rolled. If they tried to double, he made the pass. And he didn't predetermine his game. He let his game come to him. And he stayed aggressive and maintained the attack mode. I thought that was very important for him. Q. Doc, when you see this team, what it has accomplished going so far this year, with the injuries you've dealt with and the guys who aren't here that should have been here, does it encourage you to want to do this again in hopes that the circumstancesnext year ‑‑ you can kind of ramp up because your bench is(Indiscernible) ‑‑ guys you didn't plan on being here trying to help you in a big playoff game, do you think to yourself hey, if we had reinforcements, next year we could try this again? COACH DOC RIVERS: Well, I think that for a while (Indiscernible) but I won't let myself go there right now. Honestly, I'm so focused on beating Miami and figuring out the way of beating this team. They beat us last year, and we want to break through against them. So really that's my focus. Obviously, when I stick around wondering about different stuff, when I do get there, I always think that, yeah, sure. But like I said last night, or before the game, you never take anything for granted ever. So we just have to stay focused on the now right now. Q. Doc, last night we saw a little bit different LeBron James in the first half offensively related to how you guys play defense. What did you like that did you in the first half of last night's game defensively to prevent James from getting easy baskets and getting to the lane? COACH DOC RIVERS: Well, when I thinkwith James, I think about coverage. We just have someone in front of him all the time and our help defense was terrific. I think moving Kevin off of Battier and putting him on whoever they had at five, Anthony, it didn't matter, allowed Kevin help and be more involved in pick‑and‑rolls. And I thought that really helped us. But then I thought in the second half we got away from that a little bit. Not as far as the coverages, but as far as our discipline and our help coverage. And I thought that hurt us. Q. Doc, I just wanted to ask you something totally off the subject here. I don't know if you saw that Jack Twyman passed away last night. I didn't know how much you were aware of his contributions, particularly his relationship with Maurice Stokes, going back to a story that a lot of people don't know about in today's game. COACH DOC RIVERS: It's funny, I didn't know it, actually. It's sad news, obviously. I didn't know he had been sick. It's amazing when you're involved in this, you have to understand I pretty much don't read anything. (Indiscernible) I know of the story. Honestly, I don't know it as well as I probably should. Q. Hey, Doc, you got a lot out of Kevin in the first game offensively. And then it seemed like Game 2 you went away from him. I know Rondo had it going. Do you need more from him? Did he give you enough? I know he was doing a lot defensively as well. COACH DOC RIVERS: We didn't involve him enough. We've got to involve him more than we did last night. We got to get him into the spots that we want him to. Especially in front. That's one of the things that stood out last night. His numbers look good, But we can do a better job of getting Kevin more involved offensively when he's on the floor. Q. Doc,. The offense in the third quarter seemed to be a little stagnant trying to get Paul Pierce more involved. Was that an effort you guys were making to try to get Pierce more involved in the third? Or was that something the guys just got away from? COACH DOC RIVERS: We got away from it‑‑ really got away from what we were doing, honestly. I thought the first half our offensive game plan was absolutely wonderful. I thought in the second half we went back to the first game‑‑ or the third quarter, we went back to the first point of the game ‑‑ way of playing ball stops. Never got the ball to the other side of the floor, concentrated on the first option too much.  And then after ‑‑ I really struggled getting them out of that. By the fourth quarter we were back playing the right way. But we have to continue to do it. You're not going to beat Miami on the strong side. You're not going to beat Miami with isos. You have to have ball movement. And the ball has to touch different hands, and the ball has to change different sides of the floor. Q. Doc, after seeing Miami twice‑‑ and this is a very different Miami team than you played obviously in the regular season without Bosh‑‑ what are they doing better than maybe you expected? COACH DOC RIVERS: Well, I think they trust each other better. I don't know if I didn't expect it, but they are doing that. They really trust their teammates. That's why Chalmers had the game he had. I think Chalmers is playing with far more confidence. They are running him in pick‑and‑rolls. Last year, even parts of this year, it was pretty easy‑‑ spacing the ball in LeBron's hands and in Dwyane's hands and they pretty much shot the ball. Now they're running stuff on both sides of the floor, more guys are involved, and it makes it more difficult to guard them. Q. Doc, three‑pointers, when they get ten, is that basically the emphasis on doubling LeBron and Wade and guys are going to happen to be open? Do you have to do something differently to stop the open roll? COACH DOC RIVERS: Not we don't have to do anything differently. Listen, I would say they probably should have in front of our rotations. (Indiscernible) a lot of them were we didn't make them put the ball on the floor. Our game plan is to make the guy behind the three put the ball on the floor. There were five or six, probably seven of them, they may have missed a couple, but we were there and we didn't do it. That's what I mean by our defensive discipline slipped at times. To beat this team, that can't happen. Q. I have one more. It seems like the guys came away more encouraged than discouraged. COACH DOC RIVERS: Yeah, we are. That's very accurate. We still know we have to play better. But I think our guys know now that we can play. I don't know if they did know it or not, but I think we knew it anyway. But after Game 1 (Indiscernible) I think we needed to have that type of game last night. Obviously, (Indiscernible) won it is far more important. But I think our guys are very confident going into Game 3. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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