Doc Rivers has this way of gauging the temperature of the room, and saying just the right thing to get people’s attention.
Remember back in April when we all watched the Celtics lose to the Bulls by 7 and we chalked it up to just another “not enough in the tank” game? Doc came out and TORCHED his team for their effort.
That’s what the team needed. They responded by winning their next 4 games (against 4 playoff teams). Last night, the team needed to be reminded of something different. That they’re STILL in a position that anyone would have gladly taken before this series started
We left a huge opportunity on the floor, but we still have another opportunity. And that’s what playoffs are about. Clearly we’re at home, you want to win. You always want to win. Did you hear our crowd the last three minutes of the game? What other crowd in the NBA does that? It’s a terrific place to play. The fans were unbelievable. They did their part tonight. We just didn’t do ours.
Honestly, that was a great opportunity, but we have another opportunity. We get to play another game, Game 7. I would say most of the people in this room would have said, wow, they’re going to get to Game 7, we’ll take it. That’s the way we have to view it. We won a game at theirs, they won here. Now we get to play for all the marbles. This team has not done it the easy way this year. Maybe this is justified for us, go in there and do it.
As for Paul Pierce, who has been struggling this series?
He’ll bounce back. Paul is a big‑game player. Game 7s are the biggest that you can possibly have. What I saw tonight was I thought he was ready for the game. He just didn’t have a great game tonight. We don’t look into it much more than that, at least I don’t.
He was down. Kevin was down. The whole locker room was down. But you can see their resolve in the locker room. They’re not just going to pack for Sunday. They’re going to bring suits for Tuesday, and they’re going to bring suits for Thursday. And that’s the way we’re going to plan to do it.
After hearing his press conference last night, I could see exactly why KG would run through walls for this guy. Hell, I wanted to suit up for him after hearing all the stuff he was saying. THAT is what makes him one of the best out there. It’s just amazing.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
