“I saw Big Baby cry one time,” Rivers cracked, referencing the time Kevin Garnett had berated Glen “Big Baby” Davis to the point of tears.
The joke led to a chorus of laughs, but Davis might not have appreciated the burn. Apparently, he and Rivers — who clashed several times while working together as coach and player — have hit a rough spell in their relationship. During an interview on Chris Broussard’s podcast, “In the Zone,” Davis lit into his former coach, saying that he considers Rivers overrated as a coach and believes Rivers was “lucky as hell” to lead the 2008 Boston Celtics to a championship.
“Because what Doc had in ’08 was special,” Davis said on the podcast. “And he was lucky as hell. Lucky as hell. The year before that they were wearing trash bags (in the crowd). … But then the next year they win it, now he’s one of the best coaches ever? I’m just not feeling that, you know what I mean? You give credit to KG. You give credit to Paul Pierce. You give credit to Ray Allen. Those are the guys that made sure whatever Doc needed to be done got done. And so now it’s easy for Doc to do his job.
MassLive – Glen Davis: Doc Rivers overrated, ‘lucky as hell’ to win championship with Boston Celtics
They say that winning makes everyone happy, but that may not have been true for the 2008 NBA champion Celtics. In the years after the banner-raising, we learned that Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo didn’t get along. Rondo once said there were “issues” in the locker room, and he himself was a handful for his coaches. And Ray’s subsequent departure in free agency caused his fellow Big Three members Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to “lose his phone number,” as KG put it.
And now we have Glen Davis putting the coach on blast, apparently for hard feelings Big Baby has developed over the years. Baby always seemed to be the butt of jokes among those Celtics. Obviously, it finally got old for him.
Baby also played for Doc with the Clippers, so whatever friction they had in Boston no doubt got hotter in L.A. And Doc would’ve always had the last word. But now, being out of the league, Baby has no reason to hold back.
It will be interesting to hear Doc’s response to this criticism. He’ll probably deliver some passive-aggressive zinger that will make everyone laugh – just like the old days in Boston.
Next season will be the 10th anniversary of that 2008 title. Could be a tad awkward if the Celtics stage a reunion.
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