That play is drawn up by every team in the NBA , but only a few pull it off successfully. Having enough weapons to make the defense not help on the best players counts for something.

the secret to doc rivers’ success is tom thibideau (or however the hell you spell his name). rivers’ also has the privilege of coaching KG and surrounding him with paul pierce and ray allen.

if anything, rivers should be credited for knowing what to do with young talent (tmac, miller in orlando, now rondo in boston).

And then this pass game he himself, the great Doc, whines about the refs after they lost at home.. what a difference winning makes huh??

I think 90% of us could coach that Celtics team to the Playoffs. I don’t think most of us could have coached them to the title last year, but I think a few in here know enough about basketball to do it. I like Doc and all but how hard is it to draw up a play to have Ray Allen come off a screen and to clear out one side of the court to let Pierce go iso on his player.

Ray needs to come off a screen to be an effective shooter, so run plays for him coming off a “Big Baby” screen (minus the last play of the Celtics OT loss to the Lakers) and hell you look like Vince Lombardi of the NBA. Have Paul Pierce iso his man and have every one else on the other side of the court. Have Garnett pop out for a 15 footer at one of the elbows and you just received a COY award.

Great Coach??? I don’t know if he’s “great” but I think he’s a “good” coach. He does handle the egos on that team pretty good. But hell, everyone would be pretty close to their best behavior when you have all those banners and old-timers at your games. If Bill Russell came to one of my games, I ain’t complaining about sh** and everything is “Yes, sir”.

phil taking anothers coach project (doug collins) and coachin jordan/pip and shaq/kobe to rings nothing speacial.

they are ok coaches

They are both excellent managers of egos and emotions, there is definatley something to be said for that – Plus they both are able to focus their guys on a common goal, no matter how selfish each player might be,

Jordan has said countless times that Phil and Dean Smith are the only two coaches he has really respected and loved because they challenged him and didnt just cater to whatever he felt like,

Respect has to be earned on both sides, Doc clearly is able to challenge his guys and in turn they respect him back – they will play hard for him and buy into a common goal – that is the difference – 95% of pro coaches fail I would say because they fall into a trap of wanting to buddy up with their players – there has to be that line of seperation,

Cudos to Doc even though I despise the Celts, I respect them and what he has done there – understanding the psychology of the game is just as imporant as the X’s and O’s