|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CELTICS v HEATJune 4, 2012Doc RiversMIAMI, FLORIDA: Practice Day Q. Just wanted to ask you when you see the improvement in the way that Paul and Ray are moving, I mean, I don't want you to try to be a doctor here, but how much of this is that they've just learned to manage their injuries and that they are‑‑ they've just learned to tolerate what they've got? COACH DOC RIVERS: Yeah, I would say it's probably 100% of that. Especially in Ray's case. I think Paul has improved. No different. He still has a sprained MCL. But I do think he has some improvement. He feels better. He's not in as much pain. I think in Ray's case it's more he has just kind of resigned to the fact that this is what he has to play with. He has figured out how to move and cut on it. He's clearly (Indiscernible) that certain cuts hurt him. We've kind of taken him away from those cuts. He's communicated all the things that he can't do and can do. It's helpful. Q. You had mentioned his landing on his jumpshot was all over the place. I mean, have you noticed improvement in that? COACH DOC RIVERS: Yeah, yeah. I think his balance is better now. I think he's back to getting it off quick again, where I thought for at least in the Philly series, especially, Ray is known for his quick release. It took so long for him to get it off. To me that's a signal that something is not right. Q. There's been a lot of speculation that Chris Bosh could return tomorrow. Are you preparing for tomorrow as if you'll see Chris Bosh? COACH DOC RIVERS: Yeah, we have every game. So, you know, you don't have to do anything different. We've prepared every game like Bosh is going to play. And eventually he will. Maybe tomorrow. Q. Hey, Doc, just piggybacking off that, you have had players throughout the season who have had injuries and been able to come back. What's the biggest challenge reintegrating a key core guy of your team back in the flow when he's been out for a while? COACH DOC RIVERS: Well, you know, it hasn't been that long. I think it's more challenging when you've been out a long time for the player. You just want him to just be him. I think a lot of players have come back‑‑ at times it's happened as well, especially when your team is playing well‑‑ you don't want to get in the way. As a coach you want him to get in the way. You want him to play the way he plays. You don't want him to play differently. I'm sure that's what they'll do with Chris tomorrow night. Q. How different do you think it will be for Kevin to have Chris out there as opposed to Joel, Udonis and the other guys? COACH DOC RIVERS: I don't know how much different it will be. I think Kevin is going to try to post up whoever they throw out there, and we're going to try to post him up. It's just another body. Chris is obviously very talented and poses his own problems. But I don't think Kevin will be that concerned with whoever is there, he's going to try to play against. Q. Doc, did KG have the same or similar injury as Chris Bosh? And what was he like when he first came back? COACH DOC RIVERS: I don't think it was the same injury. I'm not‑‑ so I can't say. I think they were different injuries. I think. Actually, I couldn't even tell you exactly what Chris Bosh's injury is. I thought it was stomach‑related. Q. A strained abdominal muscle. COACH DOC RIVERS: Yeah, so I don't know, Bill. You know how I am with injuries. I pay very little attention to it. Q. What was KGlike when he came back from the injury he did have? Did it take him a while? COACH DOC RIVERS: It took him some time rhythm‑wise. I thought Kevin jumped back in. Especially defensively. I didn't think he missed a beat there. I thought offensively it took him time to feel comfortable in some of the things he does. But I didn't think he missed the beat on defense. Q. Doc, throughout the season a lot of people wrote off your team saying the window had shut. Why have you exactly maintained an undying faith in this team? COACH DOC RIVERS: Well, because I see them every day in practice and every day together. I look at this team and last year's team. And last year's team we would have been out of the playoffs already. It just wasn't the same. We weren't a team. This team is very close. They're very competitive. I think they've kind of‑‑ they understand Rondo is the leader of the team. Everybody else plays with Rondo. Kevin is still a great player. Paul is still our best scorer. They've kind of gotten out of each other's way with roles. Then I think all the new guys have added a great competitive energy to our basketball team. So early on when we were losing, I kept saying people were getting conditioning mixed up with age. They kept looking at our team and, you know, they kept saying we're too old. And I kept saying no, we're out of shape. And let's find out how good we are later. And I didn't know either, honestly. Sometimes as a coach you have a feeling about a team. I don't know how good this team is. I've said that. But I know it's a team. And we can play with anybody. Q. Doc, obviously Paul has been most of the time guarding LeBron. How important has it been defensively to throw different looks at him, guys like Marquis Daniels‑‑ COACH DOC RIVERS: It's been huge for us. Paul has guarded him almost too much at times. He's fouled out two out of the four games. That's too much for us. But the other looks have been helpful. Especially Pietrus. I think he's done a terrific job overall. Guarding LeBron is hard. He comes at you in so many ways. He drives, he posts, he sets up everybody else, he shoots the in‑between jumpshot, he makes the big three, and he rebounds. There's just so many ways. It's so difficult to stop him. So I think he needs‑‑ you have to have two and three different looks in order to try to slow him down. Q. Hey, Doc, you just hit on it. Paul Pierce has fouled out three out of the last five games. Obviously the tenacious‑‑ you need him on the court offensively. How has he tested you as a coach? Also would you tell him to maybe tone it down, try not to draw as many offensives? COACH DOC RIVERS: Yeah, I definitely will. It's a test. Obviously, listen, we're going to take Paul off the floor at times in games. We're just not going to take him off the floor to end games. We've had three games, the Game 7 and two already in this series where he's not been on the floor down the stretch, and it obviously puts a huge strain on our defense. So we need him on the floor, and we have to keep him on the floor for us to win this series. Q. Doc, your guys‑‑ this core of guys, they've been so many Game 5s, and we hear all the same stuff. It's the pivotal game, the swing game, the crucial game, and all of that. Because you guys have been through so many of them, does that almost take some of the edge off a little bit, where things might not get so overstated about what the importance of tomorrow night's game is? COACH DOC RIVERS: Yeah, you know, I don't know. I think they're all big. Everybody internalizes it differently, honestly. I would love to tell you I know our guys will be comfortable and everything. But you just don't know. Each game is individual. It always will be. Each Game 5, each Game 6, each Game 7, each Game 1. They're all different. I think our guys being together, it helps them when things are going wrong or good to kind of turn it around or get it going, because they know it's a long haul, they know the game is a long game. And I think that may help them. But other than that, I don't know if there's anything else that can help you. You just got to go in and experience it each time. Q. Doc, back to Chris Bosh. What about him on the offensive end? How does he help them? Does he play a big role in trying to spring Dwyane Wade? COACH DOC RIVERS: Yeah, yeah, he helps. Because all the trapping we're doing is more difficult when Bosh is on the floor. Because he stretches the floor. I mean, that's his value offensively is he's a great shooter. And he really stretches the floor. He's long. So when we close out on Battier and get a hand on the ball or a fingertip on the ball, as we say, and do the same thing to Haslem, Bosh is a little taller. We can't get fingertips on the ball when he gets it. He gets free shots off. That will make it difficult. There's no doubt. Q. Doc, do you find yourself, having coached Garnett, being surprised what he can do on defense? COACH DOC RIVERS: I don't. I really don't. Maybe I should, but I don't. I expect a lot from all our guys, and maybe that's why I'm never surprised when they do what you really need them to do. I do think he's overlooked so much defensively because I think the only time he really watches defenses is when he's on the ball to rotate. But the talking, the orchestration of our D on the floor, it's so important to have a guy like Kevin. And I think that gets overlooked a lot. He's the best that I've ever seen. Q. Doc, there were maybe some controversial calls last night. What's your take on the officiating up until this point of the series? COACH DOC RIVERS: I think it's a hard game. I said that after Game 1 and Game 2, Game 3 and Game 4. It's a physical series. Miami‑‑ we're physical. Miami is athletic and physical. You know, honestly, I thought the calls down the stretch of that game they could have gone either way. There could have been no calls. It could have went one way. Watching it on tape, I was like wow, those are tough calls. You know, the team that gets one, the other team doesn't like. And that's just the way it is. I complain as much as anybody. But overall, I do understand. It's a brutal job. And this series certainly, it's a brutal job to referee this series. Q. Doc, no plans for Stiemsma or Hollins. I was wondering what went into that decision? And how does Chris Bosh's potential return affect that mindset going forth? COACH DOC RIVERS: Well, one of them will play more, because they'll stay big. The fact that we've had success with our small lineup, we'll probably change with Bosh playing. They went small and that will change the way we have to play. Q. Wade has had a struggle shooting. But do you still see him having an impact defensively? COACH DOC RIVERS: Yeah, Wade is terrific. Listen, he's going to keep attacking. He's been better in second halves. So we have to find a way of slowing him down second half offensively. But defensively he's so disruptive. He's been able to guard Rondo, he's guarded Ray, he's guarded Paul. That's what makes him and LeBron so good, where they can guard multiple positions. LeBron in this series has now guarded the 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. The only guy he hasn't guarded is me. He's guarded everybody. It's pretty impressive.. Q. Doc, in the second half last night, everything kind of stalled again. What do you think the biggest factor was? Was there the doubling on Rajon? What was the biggest factor in the stall? COACH DOC RIVERS: I thought in the beginning of the third quarter started out great except we didn't hit shots. What I didn't like was the beginning of the third quarter we took quick and tested jump shots. We turned the ball over, and I thought we were sloppy in our transition. And then I thought it activated Miami. And then once they got into us, their defensive pressure took us out of the game. I thought their denials on the wings, couldn't catch the ball in the right spot, they trapped everywhere. I just thought they were far more aggressive than us. They put us back on our heels. And we can't allow that to happen. Q. Coach, at the end of Game 2, KG had some favorable match‑ups at or near the paint that he really didn't take advantage of it. We saw in Game 3 a complete different KG. Again at the end of Game 4 last night, it was my impression that he had some match‑ups and some shots that he could have been a bit more aggressive. Do you share that view? COACH DOC RIVERS: He had a couple. He missed one right at the rim, if you remember, and then he made one. Actually, he missed them both. Then two more‑‑ actually, three more he had and elected to pass. Those are the ones we want him to be more offensive‑minded. He's such a pass‑first player, no matter how great he is offensively. We got to keep him in being a scorer's mentality. It's tough for him, but that's what we have to keep him in that role. It's important for us to win. Q. Doc, talk to me a little bit about the last play. It appears that you guys switched with Marquis going on Dwyane Wade. Yet he didn't attempt to block the shot after the shot fake. Was that something you guys discussed in the huddle? COACH DOC RIVERS: We told him to stay down, and if you do get pump‑faked, jump sideways. Because Dwyane is as good as Paul and LeBron, I think those three guys, of drawing the foul up in the air. And we didn't want to give a guy free throws, especially three free‑throws to end the game. So Marquis did the right thing. Obviously, he did the wrong thing by leaving his feet. What we thought was Marquis switch (Indiscernible), make him shoot over. We thought what they would look for was the in‑between jumpshot with Dwyane Wade. We felt the longest guy we could put on him, the better. Q. Doc, as the minutes build up on players in this series, two overtime games, playing every other day, do you think it hampers you more because you guys are a little bit older, or possibly them more because they rely so much on two guys, and one of them Dwyane Wade just played 51 minutes, the most he's ever played in a playoff game? COACH DOC RIVERS: I don't think it hampers them and I don't think it hampers us. I think the only guy I worry about is Kevin. Other than that, Rondo, Dwyane and LeBron, they can play forever. They really can. I really believe that. So I would say just really Kevin is the only guy I'm ever concerned with. First thing I looked at after the game was ‑‑ obviously we won. I knew that. I went right to Kevin's minutes, and I turned to my coaches and said I don't like this. This is twice now in the series. It's too many. Obviously it's tough to avoid in the overtime. But I just know that that's a lot of minutes. That's twice now in four games in eight days. And that's just a lot of minutes for him. Q. Doc, I know a lot has been made of kind of the last hurrah sort of factor, how much that's motivating Kevin and Paul and Ray. Do you spot any more of that or any more sense of urgency? There always is at this time of year. But the six wins away from a championship, that that's driving them even more? COACH DOC RIVERS: You know, I don't see it. I just think they're playing hard and great because they believe they can win. And I'm sure with them that's got to be a factor. But I can tell you it's nothing we talk about. We really don't. We talk about winning this series and then moving on. And that's all we really talk about. I think maybe because it's discussed so much anyway. But I don't ever use it. I don't think I've used it this year one time. I figure guys like that drive themselves anyway. They don't need me. Q. Doc, I'm wondering if you heard Rondo's comments to Doris Burke at halftime on beating them in transition because they are whining and complaining. I wonder if you care when a player, him in particular, says something like that? And I wonder if you actually noticed that‑‑ COACH DOC RIVERS: I didn't hear the last part. Q. Did you guys actually notice that happening while you were watching film, that they were complaining‑‑ COACH DOC RIVERS: We watch a lot of film. I'll just stop there. Other than that, I don't make comments on that. Rondo is very emotional. And we like him to be intense. Obviously, if that motivates anybody else, that motivates anybody else. If you need motivation at this point, something is wrong anyway. But as far as what he said, I'll leave that alone. I'll just leave it there. Q. Any update on Avery Bradley as to if he's going to be playing in the rest of these playoffs? COACH DOC RIVERS: No, he's not. Q. How come the surgery hasn't been scheduled for him? Is it something you're waiting on? COACH DOC RIVERS: He's already had surgery. Q. Doc, speaking about Avery Bradley, it seems like Daniels and Pietrus, playing in the first half (Indiscernible) can you talk about their D on Wade? COACH DOC RIVERS: They've been terrific. He's so explosive, and he's going to get shots. We know that. But we're hoping that the shots are over longer people. We tell our guys don't foul him.  Make him make shots. Make him make shots over extended arms. And the fact that 'Quis and MP have a height advantage, we're hoping that that plays into our favor. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|