The Boston Celtics will look to flip the script this weekend in their home arena for games three and four of their series with the New York Knicks. Tonight, the first Celtics’ home game will be played in Boston since the bombings, and the home squad should be energized.
Doc Rivers knows his team needs to play better in the fourth quarter and is hoping a trip home will do the trick for his veteran team.
Doc Rivers joined WEEI in Boston with Dennis and Callahan to discuss being able to cure the Boston Celtics’ woes against the New York Knicks, the Celtics controlling the tempo of the game, playing an emotional Game 3 in Boston, the status of Kevin Garnett, his comments regarding the officiating in this series and Jeff Green playing with more consistency.
Are you going to be able to fix what happened to the Celtics?
“I would love to say it’s as simple as play harder, play better, but we have to do a lot of things. Both games were completely different except for the score, as far as our scoring. In the second game, the third quarter we gave up [32] points, which meant that we played taking the ball out of bounds, and their pressure affected us. Our defense, though it’s been good, is still tied to our offense. And I would say in the third quarter that was the big part of it.”
Is it a tempo issue?
“For us it is. We have to play at a certain pace to be effective. We have to play better, guys, even if there is no tempo. We cannot bank on pushing the ball up and playing a great pace every single time down the floor. If they are making shots and going to the foul line you are not going to be able to have pace. We have to be better in the half court and we clearly want to play with more pace.”
You haven’t played in Boston since the bombings. Are you worried about the emotions being a distraction?
“Obviously it’s going to be emotional, and quite honestly it should be. I hope that we channel it in the right way, and I think we will. I really do. It will be emotional for the fans; it will be emotional for the players. It’s one of those things; that’s what it should be.”
What’s the status of Kevin Garnett?
“He’ll be good. He’s healthy. I don’t think we’ll have him go through the entire practice, but he’ll be fine for (today).”
When you made your comments about the foul calls on Kevin Garnett, did you want the officials to know about it?
“I was really responding to a question. I basically said, ‘Absolutely, if Kevin Garnett’s not on the floor, you’re affected by it.’ And we were.”
Why can’t you get more consistency from Jeff Green? Does he drive you nuts?
“At times, because I know how good he can be — and I know how good he will be. He was fantastic in Game 1, if you just go by total numbers [26 points, 7 rebounds]. Obviously he’s not going to have the half he had in the first half; you’re not going to do that in two halves. That’s a 50-point game. I guess that’s possible, but that’s hard to do. In Game 2, our pace was bad. And if our pace affects any single guy, it’s Jeff Green. Without the pace that we wanted to play at, I thought we hurt him as much as Jeff. So, that’s on us, it really is. It’s on me; it’s on our group. Our guys understand the importance of that. If you want him to be effective, we have to get him in the open court, otherwise they’re just loading up on him.”
