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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CELTICS v HEATJune 3, 2012Doc RiversBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Game Four Miami Heat - 91 COACH DOC RIVERS: I have one thing to say: That shot Tiger Woods had today was phenomenal, wasn't it? Wow! Better than ours. Q. Doc, can you just talk about what you're trying to do on defense on that last possession. And what was going through your mind when that ball was bouncing around the rim? COACH DOC RIVERS: Red wasn't going to let that go in, you know that. Not in the Boston Garden. I thought it looked good when it left his hands. We told him watch the pump fake. But I thought what Marquis did was on the pump fake he jumped out of the way, so he couldn't draw a foul. Wade is the best, him and Paul, at doing that. So he got the first part well, Wade did, but I thought avoiding of the foul was as big as anything else. I thought the defensive possession was really good. We denied Wade for as long as we could. Same thing right before overtime with LeBron. It was low clock. We were ready if he drove. Kevin was down low. We were going to anticipate the drive. We wanted him to take a contested jumpshot, even though it ended up being the uncontested three. Q. Can you just take us through the overtime, the last few minutes, how you got them through that stretch. COACH DOC RIVERS: Well, we have experience. I don't know what series, the Philly series? I can't remember anymore with Paul fouling out. We were really unorganized, guys. I thought we were unorganized the whole second half. I thought it was us at the beginning of the third quarter. I thought we came out and tried to throw knockout punches with quick threes, transition, never‑ran stuff. Our execution in the first half was flawless. It was as good as maybe we've had, and we got completely away from it. We really did. Then I thought Miami just got into us. I thought they physically got into our airspace and took us out of everything. In the overtime all we kept saying was, we're in overtime. One bucket at a time. Let's lean on our defense, and we're going to go pick‑and‑roll for the most part. We tried to keep it as simple as possible. Q. Doc, talk about the bench once again giving you guys a lift, and it wasn't just the defense. They were also giving you a lift offensively. COACH DOC RIVERS: Keyon gave us a lift offensively. He was the only one. I think somebody else had one point. But our defense from the bench. MP, Keyon, Marquis, they've been wonderful. It's what I told you the other day, we're not going to, on most nights, outscore the other bench, but we can stop scoring. And our second unit, they come in and they give unbelievable effort and energy. I think it, in a lot of ways, it inspires the starting unit when they see it. And it's been terrific. Q. You just touched on MP a second ago. Tough night shooting the ball, but he stuck with it. COACH DOC RIVERS: I told him the other night, I think I said it to you guys, "I don't care if you go 0 for 10. I could care less. I just want you to be the defensive player that you are." And the gravy is the made shots. There were times earlier in the career if he missed a shot, he was done. It's amazing, his growth in that department. His, you know, I'm not out there for that, even though I'm gonna take them. That's growth for him. It's great growth. It's growth for our team as well. Q. Doc, Rondo had another double‑double tonight. Can you talk a little about his consistency this postseason as well as this series, something he struggled with throughout his career. COACH DOC RIVERS: Yeah, he's good. That's what he is now, when you think about it. He's just a good basketball player. Great basketball player. And now he's consistent. That's when you cross the line, when you're no longer inconsistent. He's consistent. His effort has been consistent. He's been just terrific for us. Him and Kevin and Paul, all of them, really. Those two have been unbelievable. Q. You guys had some‑‑ COACH DOC RIVERS: That shot Tiger made was unbelievable. Q. You guys had some really good looks from the outside in the first half, and were makingit. Did you guys perhaps stay with him a little bit too long? COACH DOC RIVERS: Yeah, it's funny. My coaches they got on me at halftime because I was like‑‑ I said, we're scoring like crazy and we're executing, but I don't like our shots. They looked at me like I was a moron, because the way we were shooting the ball, but there were a lot of jumpshots. I like the ones where we attack the basket, where we got Kevin deep. It wasn't the same post game as the game the other night. Not until overtime did we get them on that deep look that he didn't make, but we know we can get that for him. And we have to get back to that as well. We need low‑post scoring because it brings us to the free‑throw line. And the more we can get to the free‑throw line, the less they can run. When we're shooting free throws, the game slows down for them. When we're shooting jumpers, they better go in because when we miss them, they're long rebounds and there are fast breaks. I thought in the third quarter that's exactly what happened. We were missing quick, long jumpshots. It was the first pass to their fast break. Q. Did you stop investigating the inside in the fourth quarter, overtime? COACH DOC RIVERS: Well, Kevin, we had to keep bringing him in and out. It's funny, for a coach it's tough, because he had just started getting it rolling, and I'm looking up at the clock and I'm watching him run, and I had to take him out. Just made back‑to‑back shots. Obviously, it was the worst possible time to take him out, but you had to. You just have to. So we did, and I never thought he got his rhythm back. Q. Doc, can you talk about Kevin's rotations at the end of the game, out of the post. COACH DOC RIVERS: He was great. I tell you the first half, before we talk late, his first half his defense he was single‑handedly a single‑man zone for us. He was amazing. Then he did it again in overtime. He knew we had a kind of mismash lineup out on the floor. His talk, his defensive leadership. I know a lot of other people get votes and stuff for the Defensive‑Player‑of‑the‑Year stuff, and they all deserve it. Chandler is great. But I don't think Kevin gets enough credit for what he does for our team defense with the way he talks, and he just directs out there. He's a linebacker. Q. Doc, we talked before the game about the adjustments in trapping on Rondo, you said you didn't know what they were going to do. They clearly went to it tonight. Seemed like it bogged the offense down. COACH DOC RIVERS: Not in the first half. In the second half it did. Listen, give them credit. I thought we ignited them with the way we played the first six minutes in the third quarter, and then their defensive energy took the game over. I thought they were wonderful. They trapped, they were more physical. The one thing I told our guys, and I'm sure Erik is probably telling their guys, we, in my opinion, have yet to play a good 48‑minute game yet, us. We still have that in us. We've played a couple of good quarters here and there, great half tonight, great overtime, but we've yet to put a 48‑minute game together. I really believe that. And I really believe we can play better for sure. Thanks, guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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