![\"Doc](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/YZCPUIGSNMI6BNGGCUXAVYEPKM.jpg\")
Doc Rivers coached the Celtics, led by Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, to the 2007-08 NBA championship.The Boston Globe\/Boston Globe<\/p>\nRivers has been an NBA head coach for more than 40 percent of his life. He uplifted the Magic, taking the job at age 38. Along with president of basketball operations Danny Ainge, he resurrected the Celtics with Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce, winning a championship in 2008, and losing in Game 7 of the Finals two years later.<\/p>\n
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Helped by the tutelage of Pat Riley and Gregg Popovich, Rivers became a standout coach whose career was filled with franchise rises, some playoff disappointments, the championship, and he also helped revolutionize modern-day players\u2019 coaches.<\/p>\n
Rivers gets teary-eyed about his humble beginnings. A kid from Chicago just trying to earn a college scholarship. His father making sacrifices at work to be his football, basketball, and baseball coach. His mother driving him to every game, and his parents attending all of his home games at Marquette.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure when I talk about it on stage, it\u2019s going to be hard for me to get through because I\u2019m an emotional person,\u201d Rivers told the Globe. \u201cYou think about your mom and your dad. And they were tough. My dad had this thing about no victims in the Rivers family. He just always said that. He would not let you sit [and stew], it was get over it, keep moving, accept it. Then my mom had this saying, \u2018You\u2019re right where you\u2019re supposed to be,\u2019 and that sounds great when you\u2019re in a good place.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut when you\u2019re in a bad place, what she was basically saying was, \u2018OK, well, you\u2019re here because you earned it, and it\u2019s not great but get out of it.\u2019 I think being around that, that probably is why I\u2019m here. It is why I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, Rivers will be most celebrated for that Celtics championship, galvanizing a group of talented players with a blend of veterans, and then youngsters such as Kendrick Perkins and Rajon Rondo, to reach the ultimate success. That\u2019s when Rivers became most lauded, for his ability to relate to his players.<\/p>\n
That required difficult conversations, especially with Perkins and Rondo, each of whom wanted more expanded roles than Rivers projected.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoc\u2019s impact on my life was bigger than basketball,\u201d Perkins told the Globe. \u201cHe was just what I needed as a young fella in the league, and what he was able to teach me, the sacrifice, the routine, being a star in my role.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garnett was the spiritual leader and demanded excellence from his teammates. But it was Rondo who had to be the floor leader at 21, running the offense to get the Big Three their desired touches. His relationship with Rivers was rocky at first because Rondo was headstrong and confident.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had to keep the coach happy, he had to keep the three stars happy, and he had to keep all the role players happy,\u201d Rivers said. \u201cThat was easier for me, honestly, because I played with Moses [Malone] and Kevin Willis and Dominique [Wilkins, in Atlanta]. I understood that everybody wanted the ball, everybody wants to shoot. <\/p>\n
\u201cI told him point blank, \u2018No is maybe your most positive word.\u2019 There\u2019s times that you are going to be unpopular in the locker room with your teammates, and you can\u2019t worry about it. It\u2019s just part of the territory, and I actually said you\u2019ve got to be a [jerk]. Now we laugh at it because Rondo and I have this amazing relationship.\u201d <\/p>\n
Doc Rivers coached the Celtics, led by Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, to the 2007-08 NBA championship.The Boston Globe\/Boston Globe<\/p>\n
The making of the 2007-08 Celtics required Rivers to speak with each of the Big Three about the desire to sacrifice. This was one of the first times in the modern-day NBA that three All-Stars had been put together with expectations to win immediately. Rivers had to make it work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really felt like we had to establish what we were doing, what we were playing for, how we were going to play,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had the conversation about shots. I think each guy the year previous averaged near 20 shots, and I said, well, clearly that\u2019s not possible.\u201d <\/p>\n
Garnett was the first to agree, telling Rivers he didn\u2019t need many shots. But Rivers also implored Pierce and Allen to play defense. They all checked their egos, along with Rondo, Perkins, and complementary players Tony Allen, Sam Cassell, P.J. Brown, James Posey, and Eddie House.<\/p>\n
Said Rivers, \u201cThe thing that I love the most about that 2008 team, and I still challenge people today, to find a team that played that hard for 82 regular-season games and through the playoffs as we did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, winning one more championship with the Big Three would have catapulted that group into Celtics immortality, on par with the Cowens-White-Havlicek clubs that won titles in 1974 and \u201976. But Garnett suffered a serious knee injury in 2009, derailing what was a sparkling season, and then what was left of the title team fought valiantly to get back to the Finals in 2010, losing to the Lakers in seven. <\/p>\n
\u201cKevin was never the same, and Perk gets injured in Game 6, tears his ACL, but yet we still had a shot,\u201d Rivers said. \u201cIt\u2019s spilled milk now, but I hated the way that game was called [by the officials]. If you remember, that game was so physical in the first half, and then in the second half, everything was called.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lakers attempted 21 free throws (nine each by Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol) in the final quarter, to the Celtics\u2019 six, and won, 83-79. A second title in three years would have changed the perception of the second iteration of the Celtics\u2019 Big Three, but Rivers and the players will have to be satisfied with the one championship, which made Rivers a Celtic for life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a Celtic,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll never not be. I coached there the longest, for nine years. I won the title, and if someone asks me what I am, I\u2019m a Boston Celtic. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s close. I\u2019m connected with the city. The team connected with the city. <\/p>\n
\u201cListen, I\u2019m biased, but maybe New York \u2026 but I don\u2019t know \u2026 if you can pick the 30 franchises, and then you pick where you want to win at, it\u2019s hard to beat Boston.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garnett, Pierce, and Allen will introduce Rivers at Saturday\u2019s induction, and he\u2019ll enter with the reputation of resurrecting franchises and bonding with his players, many of whom remain close. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a winner, despite what anybody\u2019s got to say about him,\u201d Perkins said. \u201cWhat didn\u2019t happen in the playoffs and all this [expletive], nobody cares. What people need to realize is Doc ain\u2019t for everybody. But he was for me. He still is for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gary Washburn is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at gary.washburn@globe.com<\/a>. Follow him @GwashburnGlobe<\/a>.<\/p>\n