Boy was I thrilled to hear Doc say this

[Clench123]

From Doc himself...

“Honestly, I don’t care about the Lakers,” Rivers said. “My honest thought as a coach right now … I have my eye squarely on Miami. I come up to my players during the year — they’re in the facility now — I bring up Miami every single day to them. I want them to hate them. I want them to beat them. That’s got to be our focus.”

“I think the Lakers are better,” Rivers continued. “I’m actually not one that thinks they’re way better. The guy they traded, (Andrew) Bynum, we struggled to guard him. Dwight (Howard) is a great player, but we’ve guarded him pretty well. Offensively, the (Steve) Nash part is different. I look at them and wonder how that’s going to work. I hear they’re going to run the Princeton offense, which I want to see the ball move, I want to see Kobe (Bryant) keep moving the ball. But it’ll be interesting. They’re really good.”

Doc is leading the pack.  I believe Doc didn't even have to tell KG and Rondo to hate the heat.  With Ray Allen's move, the disgust for those guys is on another level now.  To be honest, I haven't been this happy (as a Celtics fan) to be going into a season.  Lakers don't even scare me a bit (all the pressure is on them and I belive it's going to be a bust).  We have to take care of the Heat (which we're more than capable) before moving on to the Fakers.  Ubuntu is back.  Go Celtics!

[Kane3387]

Doc is the man

[SHAQATTACK]

 All this talk of thrashing the HEAT is just teasing me...It gonna be a all out war this year ...  Celtics vs Heat

[Finkelskyhook]

They're only playing the lakers twice this season.  And definitely not in the playoffs.  Lakers will be lucky to have home court in the first round.  Rivers shouldn't be concerned about them at all.

[ManUp]

Only natural he'd say that. They are the defending Champs, they ended our season twice in a row, they stole one of our most coveted players, and they reside in the east. They are the more immediate threat and have bitten us in the butt the last two seasons.

[mctyson]

It would be nice if some of the fans on this blog heeded Doc's words and started hating the Heat more than the Lakers too...

[jbaerg]

I'm hoping for some Badboys-esque play this year. Unfortunately, I probably won't get it.

[pearljammer10]

I'm hoping for some Badboys-esque play this year. Unfortunately, I probably won't get it.

Thanks why we have Jason Collins baby. Perkins 2.0, an enforcer is back

[GreenFaith1819]

Doc Rivers is ready for battle, no doubt.

Can't wait for Oct. 30.

BOS's going to bring it on that day.

Thanks for the post.

[csfansince60s]

It would be nice if some of the fans on this blog heeded Doc's words and started hating the Heat more than the Lakers too...

Tough call.

Like who do you hate more, Adolf Hitler or Pol Pot. Two pretty scummy individuals.

Lakers: League and other teams give things to them. (See Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard and to a lesser extent Steve Nash). They're like the spoiled little rich kid who never has enough.

cHeat: The Unholy Trinity colludes (with master puppeteer Pat "Devil's Advocate" Riley pulling the strings) to come together (setting a terrible precedent in the league). "Celtics as a blueprint" excuse/pandering/explanation is a bunch of crap. We paid dearly for our Big Three.

Add to this their pitch to Benedict Allen  something like "how would you like some revenge and really screw your teammates and team"?

I decided: I hate the cHeat more.

+1...Agree with you mctyson! To me the Heat are more hateable.

[Jon]

Doc does bring up some good points about LA.

1) We've had a harder time with Bynum than Howard.  That's largely because Bynum is a better offensive player than Howard, who is still quite mechanical, even at this stage of his career.

2) Nash is no sure thing.  First, he's 38 going on 39.  People worry about KG, Terry, and Pierce, but Nash makes them look young.  Secondly, the last time that Kobe played with a real PG, things didn't go so well (Payton).  The difference is that Nash shoots much better than Payton, so even if Nash gets turned into a spot up shooter (what happened to Payton), he'll likely do better at it than Payton. 

3) Kobe in the Princeton offense may not work out.  As Doc says, I'll believe it when I see it.  And if that falters, all sorts of problems could arise, as Nash gets turned into a glorified Eddie House and coaching crumbles as Mike Brown doesn't have the reputation that Phil Jackson does to force it down the team's throat. 

We shouldn't sleep on LA, but it's also not like they should be sizing rings yet either. 

[OsirusCeltics]

From Doc himself...

“Honestly, I don’t care about the Lakers,” Rivers said. “My honest thought as a coach right now … I have my eye squarely on Miami. I come up to my players during the year — they’re in the facility now — I bring up Miami every single day to them. I want them to hate them. I want them to beat them. That’s got to be our focus.”

“I think the Lakers are better,” Rivers continued. “I’m actually not one that thinks they’re way better. The guy they traded, (Andrew) Bynum, we struggled to guard him. Dwight (Howard) is a great player, but we’ve guarded him pretty well. Offensively, the (Steve) Nash part is different. I look at them and wonder how that’s going to work. I hear they’re going to run the Princeton offense, which I want to see the ball move, I want to see Kobe (Bryant) keep moving the ball. But it’ll be interesting. They’re really good.”

Doc is leading the pack.  I believe Doc didn't even have to tell KG and Rondo to hate the heat.  With Ray Allen's move, the disgust for those guys is on another level now.  To be honest, I haven't been this happy (as a Celtics fan) to be going into a season.  Lakers don't even scare me a bit (all the pressure is on them and I belive it's going to be a bust).  We have to take care of the Heat (which we're more than capable) before moving on to the Fakers.  Ubuntu is back.  Go Celtics!

The main reason why I love what Doc said is that he has that "I don't care what anyone thinks attitude"
Usually he's more politically correct, but I love this edge
He wasn't polite to both the Heat or the Lakers

He took a swipe at Kobe, and I loved it. Kinda like saying "Kobe running the Princeton offense, haha yeah right!"

[ACF]

It would be nice if some of the fans on this blog heeded Doc's words and started hating the Heat more than the Lakers too...

Or, we can start worrying about Miami when they have like, say, 16 championships.

[GreenEnvy]

It would be nice if some of the fans on this blog heeded Doc's words and started hating the Heat more than the Lakers too...

Or, we can start worrying about Miami when they have like, say, 16 championships.

That's important to fans. None of these players were even born when these tallies began.

The players need to worth about who they will face and who stands in their way. The C's faced LeBron 4 times in 5 playoffs. They faced Wade 3 times. They bounced us the last two seasons. Those our their rivals.

If both the Lakers and Celtics make the Finals, then by all means let the fun begin. But our biggest obstacle to Banner 18 is undoubtedly Miami.

[ACF]

It would be nice if some of the fans on this blog heeded Doc's words and started hating the Heat more than the Lakers too...

Or, we can start worrying about Miami when they have like, say, 16 championships.

That's important to fans. None of these players were even born when these tallies began.

The players need to worth about who they will face and who stands in their way. The C's faced LeBron 4 times in 5 playoffs. They faced Wade 3 times. They bounced us the last two seasons. Those our their rivals.

If both the Lakers and Celtics make the Finals, then by all means let the fun begin. But our biggest obstacle to Banner 18 is undoubtedly Miami.

Sure and I agree, I do think Miami is going to be the biggest hurdle (well, that and whether or not we'll have HCA in the playoffs) but I think the reason most people hate Miami is LeBron James. Plus, it doesn't really matter who we (the posters of CB) hate the most, it doesn't even really matter who the players hate the most. We have to beat them all. I think Doc's point was that we have to go through Miami and then we'll worry about the Lakers, if they should make it all the way to the Finals. First things first.