Doc Rivers Doesn’t Like Playing on Christmas Either
December 23, 2010 – 11:00 am by Chris FedorNo Rajon Rondo. No Jermaine O’Neal. No Kendrick Perkins. No problem for the Boston Celtics. Despite missing some big pieces in their rotation and having every reason to struggle, the Celtics are the hottest team in the NBA right now and are clearly the best team in the Eastern Conference. While Orlando continues to flounder and overhaul their entire roster and the Heat are still trying to find themselves, the Celtics have ripped off 14 wins in a row and are now 23-4 on the season. The NBA is only about a third of the way through the season, but one thing is crystal clear. The road to the NBA Finals in the Eastern Conference runs through Beantown.
Doc Rivers joined WEEI in Boston to talk about how important Shaquille O’Neal has been to the Celtics, what he thinks about playing games on Christmas, what he thinks about his friend, Larry Brown, parting ways with the Bobcats, how close Kendrick Perkins is to coming back, and what he thinks about the Celtics winning 14 in a row despite dealing with a number of injuries.
On Shaquille O’Neal:
“The old adage is you can’t teach height. Well in this case you can’t teach height and size. He has both. He’s limited in some areas because of his age and his size, but he makes up for it. He’s a smart player, really has a high basketball IQ, and is in pretty good shape. I don’t know. He says that each year is his last year, sounds like me, but I think he will go another year after this one.”
On being okay with playing on Christmas:
“Let me clarify, it’s really not okay with me but it is what it is and I accept that. I signed a contract 23 years ago to be in the NBA and they play games on Christmas. I’m used to it, I never liked it, but it is what it is. The way that I have to look at it now is it’s an honor to play on Christmas or it used to be. It used to be one or two games on Christmas which I think they should go back to, I think that would make it a more special date, but now I think there’s six games. I think that’s too many.”
On whether or not Larry Brown will coach again:
“Yeah. He will coach. He loves coaching. Larry’s a coach. It was not a surprise. I thought he was really frustrated, we talked a long time after our game last week and you could just see it. Larry takes things as personal as any coach that I’ve ever been around. He always points the finger at himself and that’s what he was doing after the game. I’ve gotta do this, I’ve gotta do this better and I always worry about Larry in those cases so in this case I think it was a good break for him.”
On Kendrick Perkins:
“I’m hoping I see a situation where I hold him back because that means he’s ready. Perk is eager I can tell you that. He wants to play so bad and I understand that. We have to be very careful with him because this is his career that we’re fooling with as well and we need him. The game we may need him the most is Christmas Day. He’s done so well on Dwight one on one and not having him it will be interesting, I guess in a sick way I’m looking forward to that challenge.”
On whether or not he has been able to enjoy this winning streak:
“This has been a more difficult one Bob. I don’t think we have time to look at this one because we don’t know who’s playing every night in this one. I know that sounds crazy. It’s a strange streak in a lot of ways. As a staff I can tell you we’re not looking at it at all because we’re so focused on the next game, who’s going to play, and how we’re going to get a decent practice right now. In some ways every streak in enjoyable, but I don’t know if we’ve enjoyed this one as much because of all the other things.”
Listen to Doc Rivers on WEEI here
Tags: Boston Celtics, Doc Rivers, Eastern Conference, NBA, WEEI
