It's hard to remember that in the 2004-2005 season, Doc Rivers actually led the Celtics to a 45-37 record, first place in the Atlantic Division, and the third seed in the Eastern conference playoffs. Wait, it's all coming back to me now...Paul Pierce ripping off his jersey and swinging it around his head in Indiana...an idiotic prank in the press conference where he wrapped his jaw in tape to emphasize that he got fouled...and yes, a game seven 27-point home blowout at the hands of the 6 seed Indiana Pacers, a game which I was unlucky enough to attend. Anyways, the initial point was, it's hard to remember that only 2 seasons ago, Rivers actually had a relatively successful campaign.
Since then, the Celtics are a pathetic 56-102, getting progressively worse in each season. Don't blame this entirely on Danny Ainge, or the fact that the Celtics are young and have had injury troubles, or anything else. Over the last two years, the Celtics are 15-35 in games decided by five points or less. That's not talent; they've had the talent to position themselves for wins, and time after time, they lose. The coach deserves some blame for games like that. Another bewildering thing about Rivers is that the Celtics continue to be the only team in the NBA that legitimately has a "second line". While other coaches actually leave their best players in until they absolutely need a rest, working one or two bench players into the mix, Rivers insists on using entire line subs, as if the NBA were an in-town recreation league and parents will get mad if their sons don't play. Well, right now Doc doesn't have that luxury because the Celtics are more beat up than Apollo Creed in Rocky IV. I heard they called Dice-K to see if he had ever tried basketball. But when the Celtics have more than 7 players dressing, and are actually attempting to win basketball games, Doc consistently takes the entire starting lineup out for the first six minutes of the second and fourth quarters, and suicidal Celtics fans watch 10 point leads turn into deficits before Paul Pierce heaves up a last second shot that has a 12% chance of going in.
There is only one way that I can explain how little confidence the Boston fans have in Rivers. When there was buzz towards the middle of the season about Doc possibly getting fired, Celtics fans were distraught because we felt he was the only coach who could lead us to a chance at Oden or Durant. Look, Doc is a great guy. He always says the right thing. He's extremely charismatic and I always feel bad about trashing him after I see him in a press conference. Hey, he even called John Amaechi to give him support when the rest of the NBA gave him the cold shoulder after announcing that he was gay. But all that being said, Doc is just a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad coach.
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