I hope Rivers does not comeback next year

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people really think doc isn't an elite coach? really? i don't think there is anyone in the league that could have handled our locker room of personalities and gotten them within 4 points of a championship without home court advantage for 3 straight rounds, 2 of which were against two of the most physical teams in the league (which played a factor in the end - fact is, we had to expend so much to beat orlando and cleveland...LA was pushed by OKC and phoenix, but neither are physical teams that beat you up). doc is an incredible coach. another poster pointed this out, and i agree...i think doc has outdone himself coaching every year AFTER the title. i suspect he will leave due to family stuff, but i really am hoping he doesn't. doc is the glue to the team. it's very obvious from listening to players talk about him.

[Vermont Green]

JVG ...  would have told KG to grab the rebounds with both hands unlike Rivers

I read this whole thing and was going to just leave it alone, but then I saw this and I just couldn't.  Are you suggesting that all someone needed to do was tell KG to use both hands?  KG has 12,188 career rebounds plus another 1,072 in the playoffs.  I think he knows how to grab a rebound.  He gave absolutely everything he had and there is absolutely no way that saying something as trite as "use both hands when you rebound" was going to make a difference.  My guess is that perhaps there is something wrong with his shoulder.

[scottwedman]

He forgot to mention to his team to keep utilizing the running game. Get Rondo running after  a rebound. But they were walking in the 4th. They were exhausted and on the court way too long.

He never used his bench properly (a really good bench at that), didn't trust them, and asked them to play "carefully and conservative".

Nate Robinson's threes would have helped. So would have Michael Finleys. I mean why in heavens did we sign him anyways?

Our defense was great but we needed to get energy from offensive points and he just didn't know what to do. All he said to his starting 5 "Put it out all in the line, pass the ball etc".

Are you kidding me?!!

Put in Tony Allen and have him run with Rondo when we really needed points in those last minutes

Phil Jackson is a better coach . Because he trusts his guys , including the bench players. They responded because they weren't so scared to make a mistake

Other than Rivers who would be a good candidate as our head coach?

What do you want from Doc?

Celts beat the top two seeds handily and, short-handed, nearly beat the third despite injuries to Perk, a hobbled KG and an ancient 'Sheed.

Doc did a hellofa job this year.

[LB3533]

I do want Doc back next year, but only if we are going for a title run.

Why bring Doc back if we are rebuilding?

I really believe Doc Rivers coached the best he's ever coached this past season.

He didn't deserve to get stuck with this team that didn't care about the regular season.

Doc deserved better. Yet, he continued to believe in the team and continued to coach the rest of the way.

If we go for it again, bring Doc back on an annual basis.

[gar]

Doc gave up on a winning formula and decided to ride his vetrans in the final game. This is how he thinks and this is why so many on this blog are infuriated by his refusal to actually act like a coach when he is needed most - does he really think the players will ask to be taken out. It should have been obvious that this would not worked based on 4th quarter problems throughout the year. The idea that somehow the Finals or Game 7 are any different is absurd. If anything the emotional energy you use means you have less to leave on the floor.

Great Guy, would love to play for him; but infuriating as a fan.

[SamuelAdams]

Doc got 3 guys who are used to being their teams leading scorer to accept sharing the ball.  The 3 of them lowered their career averages to play ball for Doc.  The guy is a fricking genius.

[gar]

Doc w/ Tibbs and Doc w/o Tibbs are too different animals.
Again great coach; but difficult to loose someone like Tibbs.

[Andy Jick]

Doc gave up on a winning formula and decided to ride his vetrans in the final game. This is how he thinks and this is why so many on this blog are infuriated by his refusal to actually act like a coach when he is needed most - does he really think the players will ask to be taken out. It should have been obvious that this would not worked based on 4th quarter problems throughout the year. The idea that somehow the Finals or Game 7 are any different is absurd. If anything the emotional energy you use means you have less to leave on the floor.

Great Guy, would love to play for him; but infuriating as a fan.

game 7 minutes played:

Pierce: 46
Allen: 45
Rondo: 45
Garnett: 38
Wallace: 36

Artest: 46
Gasol: 42
Bryant: 45
Odom: 35

Yeah, I guess that Phil Jackson is an idiot too for playing his key players all those minutes as well... 

Come on...  It's game 7 and I saw none of them out there falling apart in the 4th.  We were out-rebounded, Allen couldn't hit the broad side of a barn BUT played GREAT defense on Kobe, and we got KILLED on the boards.  That had nothing to do with the amount of minutes played...

See, what I know about the fickleness of fans is this: pretend for a second that the starters played 10 less minutes apiece in that game.  You know what the complaints would have been instead?  Threads would have shown up saying, "Doc should have played the starters more..."

It's ridiculous for people to ride Doc like this...  And it's unfair.

In the end it doesn't matter what we think, but rather what the players think.  And they LOVE to play for Doc.  That says a lot.  And I will also say this: Paul Pierce would never be the player he's become if it weren't for Doc Rivers.  Doc will make you play the game the right way, and Paul became a COMPLETE player under Doc's guidance, and that had never happened under his previous coaches.

Doc did what he could to win a title this year and fell five points short of that goal.  If Ray Allen hits at least another three pointer somewhere in that game, or they pull down at least 5 more rebounds they may have won that game...

[Bossco]

This year's playoff run was quite surprising to most of us based on the way the team played the second half of the regular season. doc deserves credit for accomplishing this. I have many questions about doc's coaching, other than his motivational skills. He emphasizes playing together - Ubuntu etc... I like that.

It is hard to know what other coaches could or would have done with this lineup. I am sure most would drool at the idea of coaching this team.

Here are some of my questions: Have we all forgotten what happened during the regular season?

Why did we keep losing games in which we were ahead? Game after game of second half letdowns.

Where did our home court advantage dissappear to?

 I think that the idea that doc saved our starters during the reg. season for the playoffs is a myth and revisionist history. The minutes of the big 3 are just slightly down from the previous 2 years. If doc had really wanted to rest his starters during the reg. season he could have played his bench much more. How do you explain not playing Shelden the second half after he had been surprisingly productive the first 2 months? Wouldn't it have been nice if Shelden had seen some run before relying on him to try and produce in game 6 of the NBA finals?

Trading away Eddie and Walker and then not having faith enough in Nate to have him in the playoff rotation until Rondo goes down. doc often makes key decisions when he has no choice. Injuries and foul trouble often dictate what he must do. I call this coaching by accident.

Where did Marquis go? What happened to his game/confidence?

Why couldn't doc reign in Sheed from the 3 point line?

I have more, but I will spare you guys.

doc won a championship for us. We all are grateful for that, but we will never know what results another coach would have had.

I think it is a good time to make the switch. He had his run and we need to think about the future of the team - not just next year.

Good luck doc! Happy father's day!

[Q_FBE]

If I had my druthers I'd bring him back because that will keep the team together and that is our best bet for winning in 2011.

If he leaves, this team will fall apart and we'll be trading Pierce at the trading deadline. And we will be all examining nbadraft.net to see what help is coming.

I don't want to take that path at this time.

[Andy Jick]

 I think that the idea that doc saved our starters during the reg. season for the playoffs is a myth and revisionist history.

So are you calling Doc a liar?  Because that's precisely what he said he did this year.

Or would you have preferred KC Jones' 1987 approach in which he ran the starters into the ground because he failed to develop and play a bench that season?

Doc can't win for losing no matter what he does in some people's eyes.  But he's not a liar...

How would you like to be the Cavs today?  World-beaters during the regular season but got it handed to them in the playoffs...  Once the playoffs roll around, nobody cares what happened in the regular season. 

Considering all the egos and injuries in that locker room (and that KG was playing on ONE LEG for most of the season, lest we forget) I think he did an admirable job...

[Larry for 3]

 I think that the idea that doc saved our starters during the reg. season for the playoffs is a myth and revisionist history.

So are you calling Doc a liar?  Because that's precisely what he said he did this year.

Or would you have preferred KC Jones' 1987 approach in which he ran the starters into the ground because he failed to develop and play a bench that season?

Doc can't win for losing no matter what he does in some people's eyes.  But he's not a liar...

How would you like to be the Cavs today?  World-beaters during the regular season but got it handed to them in the playoffs...  Once the playoffs roll around, nobody cares what happened in the regular season. 

Considering all the egos and injuries in that locker room (and that KG was playing on ONE LEG for most of the season, lest we forget) I think he did an admirable job...

here is my issue with what u had to say,  the Cavs and the Magic arent the Lakers--- not even close,  you need every advantage you can get to beat the Lakers because they have Kobe and they're that good.  I'll bet you money that if the C's had home court in 1987 and most definately this year they win the whole thing.  You think some of those garbage calls dont get turned around if game 7 is in Boston instead of LA? OF coarse they do and the C's win, that's why i never bought Doc's philophosy, i new it would catch up to them @ some point and it did , in game 7 unfortunately.  Home court matters in a game 7, look it up, the Garden crowd would have carried the team to a win without a doubt

[Yakmanev]

 I think that the idea that doc saved our starters during the reg. season for the playoffs is a myth and revisionist history.

So are you calling Doc a liar?  Because that's precisely what he said he did this year.

Or would you have preferred KC Jones' 1987 approach in which he ran the starters into the ground because he failed to develop and play a bench that season?

Doc can't win for losing no matter what he does in some people's eyes.  But he's not a liar...

How would you like to be the Cavs today?  World-beaters during the regular season but got it handed to them in the playoffs...  Once the playoffs roll around, nobody cares what happened in the regular season. 

Considering all the egos and injuries in that locker room (and that KG was playing on ONE LEG for most of the season, lest we forget) I think he did an admirable job...

here is my issue with what u had to say,  the Cavs and the Magic arent the Lakers--- not even close,  you need every advantage you can get to beat the Lakers because they have Kobe and they're that good.  I'll bet you money that if the C's had home court in 1987 and most definately this year they win the whole thing.  You think some of those garbage calls dont get turned around if game 7 is in Boston instead of LA? OF coarse they do and the C's win, that's why i never bought Doc's philophosy, i new it would catch up to them @ some point and it did , in game 7 unfortunately.  Home court matters in a game 7, look it up, the Garden crowd would have carried the team to a win without a doubt

But the Lakers crowd didn't will them. For 3 quarters the Staples Center was as silent as a girl after a date with Joran Van der Sloot.

[Andy Jick]

Last I checked, WE had the home-court advantage after game 2. 

Apparently that Garden crowd couldn't help us close this out (see game 3).

[ProfanityIsNotAllowed]

He forgot to mention to his team to keep utilizing the running game. Get Rondo running after  a rebound. But they were walking in the 4th. They were exhausted and on the court way too long.

He never used his bench properly (a really good bench at that), didn't trust them, and asked them to play "carefully and conservative".

Nate Robinson's threes would have helped. So would have Michael Finleys. I mean why in heavens did we sign him anyways?

Our defense was great but we needed to get energy from offensive points and he just didn't know what to do. All he said to his starting 5 "Put it out all in the line, pass the ball etc".

Are you kidding me?!!

Put in Tony Allen and have him run with Rondo when we really needed points in those last minutes

Phil Jackson is a better coach . Because he trusts his guys , including the bench players. They responded because they weren't so scared to make a mistake

Other than Rivers who would be a good candidate as our head coach?

I totally agree with u man! Doc lets the team run itself ,all he does is through some words of wisdom here n there …save ur Shakespeare books, we need a true leader and a man with a plan. STILL DON’T BELIEVE WE LOST 2 THE LAMMERS FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT