Nelly’s take
Count Warriors coach Don Nelson among those who are very impressed with this year’s Boston Celtics.
“I watched a couple games as a fan,” said Nelson, who looked at them as a coach for the first time the other day. “They’re very impressive. I’m very happy for Doc [Rivers], that he gets to coach a really good team.”
The Celtics were expected to have a dominant offense with Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce, but Boston is leading the league by holding opponents to 40 percent shooting. Opponents have averaged 89 points per game against the Celtics this year.
“I’m not surprised at all,” said Nelson. “I would say Kevin Garnett on any team is going to make you better defensively”
His praise of the PGA (Pierce, Garnett, Allen) Tour didn’t stop there.
“Put three star players on any team and you’ve got a good team in the NBA,” Nelson said. “That’s really what you need. Most champions have three. The Lakers did it with two but they were the best at their position (Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal).”
Nelson played with the Celtics for 11 seasons (1965-1976) and won five championships during his time in Boston.
“When I was here with Russell we had Russell, Havlicek, and Nelson,” quipped Nelson. “Havlicek and I got 53 one night. I got three.”
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