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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: PISTONS v CELTICS


May 26, 2008


Doc Rivers


DETROIT, MICHIGAN: Game Four

Q. Doc, has Jeremiah made his decision?
COACH DOC RIVERS: I think he actually has, but I don't know if he's called everyone yet (laughing). But I think he has.

Q. We're ready.
COACH DOC RIVERS: He hasn't told me that he called the other coaches, so I can't say yet.

Q. What other coaches?
COACH DOC RIVERS: I went to Marquette, okay, not Dayton (laughter).

Q. Any reason behind going to the other road uniforms?
COACH DOC RIVERS: I didn't even know we went to them (laughing). You mean tonight? Did we do them last game?

Q. Yeah, in the previous series you went with the black and green ones.
COACH DOC RIVERS: If you hadn't asked that question I would not have known. I didn't know we had more than one road uniform, and I'm honest, I really didn't. I didn't notice the change. I don't care, I never ask. I don't care what they wear. They can wear white, blue, I couldn't care less.

Q. Did you consider staying the night here?
COACH DOC RIVERS: Yeah, we did think about that, actually. But because the games are so late, you're going to get in -- you don't go to bed until 3:00 anyway, so we'll be back at home and rest up tomorrow. But it is a tough one. When the games are this late, it's a decision you have to make. There's probably no right answer.

Q. When most teams come out, take a big and come out on Rasheed Wallace, it typically opens up the basket for the other players. In this series so far Kevin has been able to take Rasheed effectively out and there's been no repercussions. Is that just the length of the other guys, Perkins?
COACH DOC RIVERS: Well, we hope it's the length and the speed of rotation. Rasheed obviously is difficult because they're running a lot of it out of pick-and-rolls and some of it out of single-doubles. I mean, it's tough, because at that position being able to step out behind the three, you have to show the help on the pick-and-rolls, plus get back to Rasheed, and usually if you do that, then it opens up the paint for the drive.
What we're trying to do is leave our other big in the paint, and then he has to recover back out if they make the rotation pass to his guy. Honestly, in the first two games, the guy that benefitted the most was McDyess; he was getting shots. We corrected that in the last game, so we have to do it again.

Q. I wondered just as far as you've been a coach in the playoffs, and obviously you've gone deep as a player, but maybe what you've kind of learned about just coaching through two seven-game series in a row.
COACH DOC RIVERS: You know, it's the same. It's just about adjustments and getting your guys ready. You know, you learn every day. I hope I never stop doing that.
Having said that, most of the things, it's not any different than one series. Each time you go to another series it's just a different opponent, and that opponent, they have different problems that you have to try to solve. Other than that, it's really not much difference.

Q. Mentally fatiguing, though?
COACH DOC RIVERS: No, it's refreshing as far as I'm concerned. I'd rather do this. This is what I like doing. I don't think it is for coaches. I mean, you're up late and you're doing your job, but it's enjoyable work. I think when you enjoy doing your work, it's what you like doing.

Q. Talk about fast-break points last game. Was it just part of the blow-out portion of the game, or was there something more?
COACH DOC RIVERS: Well, we don't want to give them easy baskets, and we thought that -- the fast-break points, number one, is probably the worst-kept stat in our game as far as the stats sheet. We don't count those. I don't think I even actually look at that number on the stats sheet. We keep our own because we count early-possession shots, first and second scores, and fast-break points. They had a bunch of those in the fourth quarter, and we can't allow that to happen. Actually I think it started with about three minutes left in the third.
Some of it was from our horrible turnovers, but some was because we went to gambling to the glass instead of getting three and four back, and we just cannot allow them to have easy buckets like that.

End of FastScripts




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