Rivers: It’s not for lack of effort
Doc Rivers reads the papers. He hears the grumbling from the fans.
His team quits.
The Celtics look bored. Like they aren’t even trying.
He doesn’t agree.
“I didn’t see it the same way last night,” Rivers told a group of reporters assembled just outside the Celtics locker room. “When you watch that film, you see guys playing pretty hard. You actually see guys getting frustrated because their hard play wasn’t paying off at some points. We get Perk a couple point-blank lay-ups, we get guys wide open and their shots aren’t going in and their frustration level rises.”
The Celtics kept it close against the Cavaliers in Cleveland yesterday, but the Cavs pulled away and ran away late, rendering the Sportscenter highlights into a LeBron James tribute instead of a game recap. Cleveland’s second straight blowout win over the Celtics prompted this quote from Ray Allen.
“The glaring difference,’’ Allen said last night, “was just their effort.’’
Rivers disagreed.
“I never mentioned that we didn’t have effort,” said Rivers. “I looked at it as, with four minutes left in the third quarter it’s a tie score. So at least at that point we still had effort. We didn’t sustain our play. We missed a lot of open shots. I don’t think it had a lot to do with effort last night.”
The Celtics shot 40 percent from the field in the game, though most of that could be attributed to Cleveland’s defense. But the rebounding numbers — 51 to 43, Cleveland — must in some way be related to effort. Right?
Rivers disagreed again.
“I think it’s an easy thing now, when we don’t win, [to say] it was effort,” said Rivers. “[The Celtics] came in with a great spirt. They wanted to win the game. They had a chance to win the game. And then when it slipped away in their minds, they were disappointed. That’s a human reaction. I can live with that.
“Just because you play hard does not guarantee you are going to play well. You’ve got to hang in there until things turn your way.”
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