What to take from Doc Rivers’ comments about the Heat?
Sep 28, 2012; Waltham, MA, USA; Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers during media day at the Celtics training facility. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-US PRESSWIRE
Doc Rivers is one of the best coaches in the league and he isn’t afraid to shy away from what is on his mind. Rivers covered NBC’s coverage of the Olympics and it was apparent that Rivers holds some revenge against LeBron James. Rivers would be the first to tell you the greatness of LeBron James. However, Rivers would sure like to kick the Miami Heat’s behind in opening night and the playoffs.
Rivers recently, while being interviewed by NESN, went as far as to saying that the Miami Heat are the best team in the league right now. Doc might get some heat, no pun intended, for his bizarre comments especially in such a passionate sports town like Boston.
What do you expect though? Rivers is only giving respect to the NBA champions. You don’t know what you are going to get from the Lakers. The Thunder are essentially the same team of last year plus the addition of Perry Jones, who in my mind could be a stud. The Bulls are without Derrick Rose for who knows how long. If there is one team that is the clear favorite to win it again it would have to be Miami.
What Doc said is probably true. However, Doc didn’t just say what he said to be honest. He wanted to lit a fire under his team. Use the Miami Heat as something to unite the team. If the entire Celtics’ team starts to hate Miami and are tired of being runner-up to Miami’s recent dominance, they are going to have to be a better team.Kevin Garnett is not going to strive for being second best. I can pretty much guarantee you that he is barking at the young C’s to work harder.
Doc Rivers apparently mentions the Heat in practice everyday to the players. He consistently shows the players footage from the Heat. This gives the players something to extremely dislike. They are tired of constantly hearing how good Miami is and it made Jason Terry go as far as saying that he wants to rip the Heat’s head off.
The Celtics may not have better personal than the Miami Heat, but they sure can play better than Miami at points, and were just a game away from the Finals last year. The Celtics are in my mind the biggest threat against the Miami Heat, featuring a scorer, and elite point guard, and elite defender, and tons of young talent. Ultimately Rivers wants to instill a fire onto his players and give the goal that the Celtics need to complete in order to be successful this year. Beat the Heat!