Rivers Challenge To Wallace Worked As Celtics Beat Cleveland In Game Two!
The man who created the Dynasty that was the Boston Celtics from the late 1950’s until 1969; Red Auerbach stopped coaching the year before New York Vinnie was born. However New York Vinnie has been an NBA fan since I was a little squirt, and have done quite a bit of reading about the early days of the NBA. One of the greatest strengths of the Celtics legendary coach was he knew how to read people; and therefore he knew exactly how to treat them as individuals.
Auerbach knew that the only way he was going to be able to coach Basketball Hall Of Fame Legend Bill Russell was to always treat him with tact and diplomacy and always show him respect. He also knew that he had a player in Boston big man Tommy Heinsohn that he could yell and scream at and that the talented big man would never take offense or get upset. Auerbach later admitted to sending a lot of messages to his entire team as he ripped Heinsohn a new one in front of his teammates.
New York Vinnie believes that may be the skill that is most needed when you are the boss in any profession. You have to know who you have to stroke and who you need to plant your boot up their posterior. Different people respond to situations in different ways; whether you are the CEO of a Fortune 500 Company or a head coach the principal remains the same.
It appears that the current bench boss of the Boston Celtics Doc Rivers has the same talent that Auerbach did during his days on the pine. Celtics veteran big man Rasheed Wallace stunk up the Frickin joint on Saturday in game one of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals in Cleveland as they lost to the Cavaliers 101-93. Wallace in 13 minutes on the hardwood did not produce as he scored 2 points and had 2 rebounds in the loss.
Sunday after the Boston shoot around Rivers talked to reporters about Wallace and his disappointing game the day before. The “Boston Herald” reported Monday that a member of the media asked the Boston bench boss whether Wallace would see less time on the floor if his numbers did not improve. Rivers responded “It could be. But bottom line is he has to play better, and we’ll give him every opportunity to play well. He has to play better, bottom line. He’s got to play better defense. The offense will come, but he has to be a better defender.”
Your Old Pal New York Vinnie thought that Rivers had done the wrong thing and that Wallace would deal with the chastising as he has in the past by being sullen and moody. It turns out though that Rivers played the situation perfectly as the veteran big man scored 17 points in 18 minutes of play and was a factor in the Celtics holding Cleveland to shooting just 40% (28-70) for the game as Boston won game two Monday by a final of 104-86.
That just goes to show how valuable to the club Rivers is, and why the Celtics have to do everything they can to entice him to stay with the team rather than give up coaching to spend more time with his family. Chances are that Cleveland is still going to win this series; but the Celtics coach got his mission accomplished on Monday. Doc Rivers was just as big a factor as any player in 2008 when Boston won the NBA Title. Coaches like Rivers are hard to come by; the Celtics future may depend on holding onto him as long as they can!
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