Video: Rivers says series isn’t over

By Gary Dzen, Boston.com Staff

PHILADELPHIA — Celtics coach Doc Rivers warned against drawing too many conclusions after the Celtics’ blowout win over Philadelphia in Game 3. He took a stance against extremes on both sides, also pointing out the flaws in the argument that the Celtics can rest easy now after they got home court advantage back.

“I don’t know who said that,” said Rivers. “Not our guys. That’s not our thought. I’m serious. We never said that. That’s what you guys say. We’re taking one at a time. We won the first one and now we have another one. The key for us is the focus to play with the same energy and not play like you won one and now you can relax. You have to win the series. You can’t look at what you’ve done if you lost or won. That last game’s over.”

Rivers said he was impressed that his team didn’t settle for jump shots in Game 3.

“Last night we saw what we didn’t see in Game 2,” said Rivers. “Every time they went on runs, we came down and took a jump shot. Last night, any time we missed a couple of shots, we went right back to the post, whether it was with the drive or with the post pass.

“We didn’t change anything what we do. We wanted them to understand what we were trying to do. It’s not like I sat around and we created a new offense. First of all I’m not smart enough to do that, and I don’t think players are smart enough to do that themselves. We made a point of running what we wanted to run. We’ve got to be who we are.”

On getting into a set vs. running in transition, Rivers said, “I thought Rondo walked that line perfectly.”

— Celtics forward Brandon Bass wasn’t afraid to take 10 shots in Game 3 after making only 5 of 15 shots in Game 3. Bass told reporters Thursday that Rivers encouraged him to keep shooting. Rivers said he likes going small and admits that Bass’s role has changed because of that. He said that the Celtics have gone small specifically to match up with Philadelphia, and he said he’s figured out that going small only works with Garnett on the floor.

“Listen if you’re a shooter you better keep taking them,” said Rivers. “Brandon has more value to us than that, but that’s what he does. Brandon takes shots and he makes 15-footers, and he hasn’t been making them. But he has to keep taking them.”

— Rondo wasn’t particularly interested in sweeping generalizations on Thursday, either.

“I mean we made shots yesterday,” said Rondo. “That happens. Other days before we had lulls where we didn’t score the basketball at all and it carried over defensively. Last night was a night where we made a lot of shots. We’re human. There’s ups and downs. We’re not going to continue to play perfect every night. But it’s about wins, whether we win by 20 or win by one.”

— Rivers said he isn’t thinking about the possibility that this could be the last championship run for this group of Celtics.

“I don’t play it up. I can tell you that. This is this year. Hell, I don’t know what’s going to go on two months from now. I don’t even want to think of that.”

Said Paul Pierce, “I think the last couple years it’s been like that. We want to win the championship regardless of whether it’s going to be our last time.”