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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CELTICS v HEATJune 1, 2012Doc RiversBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Game Three Q. Doc, I'm wondering how do you find Miami is playing differently without Chris Bosh, the different challenges they present (Indiscernible) are you surprised they are playing as well without him? COACH DOC RIVERS: Listen, I don't honestly pay much attention without him‑‑ with him, because he's not there. So I'm just looking at how they're playing right now. They're playing terrific. They're moving the ball, they're trusting each other. I think other guys are involved. Chalmers and Haslem have been terrific. And so I don't think it's surprising. LeBron and Dwyane are terrific play‑makers, and not just scorers. They are involving other guys. I think it really comes from those two guys, though, that they have trusted their teammates. They are not taking hero shots, for the most part. They're playing team basketball. Q. Doc, you said once you get to the playoffs you don't worry as much about minutes. Is that carrying over again to this year? Or is there something different‑‑ COACH DOC RIVERS: With Kevin you worry about minutes. But really no one else. Ray, depending on how he's moving you worry about‑‑ it's more how he's moving. I don't even know if it's minutes. It's just the eye test whenever Ray is playing right now. But other than that, no, you don't worry much about minutes. This is a little different this year because there's not as much rest in between games. It's every other day right after a seven‑game series. So that is a little different. Q. How are you guys dealing with not really practicing? COACH DOC RIVERS: We're not practicing at all. There's no "really" to it. It's just‑‑ listen, the way the schedule is, the playoffs are hard, the games are hard. There's nothing I'm going to gain by bringing them in the next day right now. I think the rest is far more important, and that's basically the tack we've taken right now. Q. Doc, you touched on the minutes with your starters. Talk about the role of the bench and how they can alleviate some of those minutes. Are you getting what you want out of that second unit? COACH DOC RIVERS: Some games we are, some games we are not. It's a team game. We've had, you know, throughout the whole‑‑ not just the series, you go through all, we've had some spectacular minutes from our bench. Marquis in the Atlanta game. Then there's times when they're not coming through, and then the starters have to carry them. That's why it's a team game. I'm not really that concerned by it. I would love our bench to give us a couple of more minutes. I thought Stiemer played great the other night, but he fouled quickly. I told him I didn't want him to break any records by fouling out in the first quarter, so we had to take him out. But that did upset our rotation a little bit, and Ryan struggled in the little two‑minute stretch he played. Listen, we are what we are. We're not going to change. It's not going to change. Our defense from our second unit has to be great. The offense is whatever happens. Our second unit is a defensive unit. We don't have a guy that's going to come off our bench and give us 30 tonight. I kind of know that going into it. But we can hopefully stop someone from the other team doing that. And that's what our bench has to do. Q. How critical is Shane Battier's versatility and shot‑making for the success of Miami's small lineup? COACH DOC RIVERS: I think he's huge for them. He does more than just‑‑ I don't know. He makes big shots. He's a corner three‑point shooter. We have to take him off of that. But more importantly I think is his defense and just his basketball knowledge that adds another player to their team. Q. Without him, LeBron James could still play power forward. But maybe they don't have him to guard Paul Pierce when LeBron is playing power forward. How much does that defensive versatility help? COACH DOC RIVERS: You just answered the question, really. He's good, though. He can play multiple positions. Heck, they could put him at the five at times. Especially when Kevin is off the floor. I don't think anyone‑‑ when Kevin goes off the floor, they'll put anybody out there. That's what the Phillies (76ers) started doing, and that's what Miami is doing. They're not concerned with who we throw in once Kevin goes off the floor. Q. I want to get your reflections on the passing of Orlando Woolridge. COACH DOC RIVERS: Oh, that's sad. That really is. I knew him very well. You know, especially in his Bull days in Chicago, I got to know him pretty well. Shocking, obviously, with 52 years old and a weak heart. He had a tough life, he really did. So that's a sad one. Q. Doc, it hasn't been a great series for you guys defensively.  And one thing in particular, turnovers, you guys haven't been forcing them at a rate that you had been. Is that more Miami does a great job taking care of the ball? Or is that a tribute to‑‑ COACH DOC RIVERS: No, I think Miami does a pretty good job of taking care of the ball. I thought in Game 1‑‑ they scored 93 points, I think. So I didn't think defensively we were that bad. I thought‑‑ it's funny, I keep hearing how well we played in Game 2, and we played well offensively. We didn't have a good defensive game in Game 2, and so we can play better. And that was the message to our guys today. We made a ton of mistakes defensively, transition. We made a ton of mistakes in our pull‑ins on the weak side. So we have not given our best shot yet. Thanks, guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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