Celtics Four-Point Play (11/7)

By KC Downey in Celtics ⋅ November 7, 2007 at 8:52pm ⋅ Post a comment

Here’s the Celtics Four-Point Play to appear every Wednesday on Sports of Boston. This is where I will compile four (4) small and related Celtics facts and offer my own spin on a variety of Celtics news stories. The general format will be a short blurb about the story first, then my reaction tabbed underneath it.

1. As reported earlier on Sports of Boston, Celtics coach Doc Rivers will return to coach the team Wednesday against the Nuggets and Friday against the Hawks before heading back to Chicago for the wake and funeral of his father, Grady Alexander Rivers Sr. Grady Rivers, 76, was a retired Chicago police officer.

We here at Sports of Boston send out our condolences to Doc and his family. It has to be a difficult time.
I will say that I’m lucky to only lose both of my grandfathers. I know it can get a lot worse, and for that I’m grateful. I can’t imagine losing my father, especially after knowing him for as long as Doc knew his dad (46 years). That must be especially tough.

2. We all know Paul Pierce as the Celtics captain, and a go-to guy during the season. Off the court, for the most part (excluding the horrific stabbing in 2000), Paul has had pretty good behavior. According to a post on Basketbawful, there may be a few things we don’t know about Paul Pierce. I’ll put a short excerpt below, but basically, Pierce, KG and others were in a famous Toronto nightclub before the C’s beat the Raptors last Sunday. Apparently, this anonymous drunk fan told Pierce he thought the Celtics would finish second or third in the Eastern Conference. Then…

Pierce immediately spun around and just lost it. He was cussing and yelling things like “Yo, how you gonna diss me to my face like that?” and “Who the f*** this kid anyway, that’s some [BS] man,” and so on. TJ doesn’t remember everything he said, but he was really going off.

At one point Pierce gestured to the guy next to him and said, “My man right here is gonna kick your ass.” The guy just shrugged and laughed, and he gave TJ one of those “just ignore him” looks. TJ and his buddy thought the whole thing was pretty funny, but they could tell it was time to go. As they turned to walk away, Pierce ran up and did some kind of step-punch-fake thing. Most of the guys in Pierce’s group started laughing at him, but KG grabbed Pierce, pulled him back, and said, “Naw, can’t be doing that s*** dawg” in a really calm voice. TJ and his buddy started walking to the car and Pierce was still yelling chirps at them from behind as they left.

I’d be inclined to believe something like that happening. Everyone has their bad days, especially with a little alcohol in their system, so that’s where I’ll give Pierce the benefit of the doubt. But let’s be serious, it’s great that even a DRUNK Pierce expects the C’s to finish first in the East.
Also, it’s good to see that Garnett is as respectable off the court as he is on it. His actions do not surprise me at all. He has all of his thoughts set on winning a title, and he knows a drunk fight outside of a bar before the game could jeopardize that.
Allow me to add that on Sunday, Pierce went 4-17 from the field and scored just 13 points. The game was only soon after he was trashed…did he play with a hangover?…

3. According the Globe’s Celtics Blog, “Nuggets J.R. Smith and Allen Iverson ran all the way across the floor to hug Celtics coach Doc Rivers before the game.”

It’s very nice of them to take the time seek out an emotional Doc. I’m going to assume Smith and AI were sending Doc their condolences about Doc’s father. It’s funny, I never thought of Iverson or even Smith as classy individuals, but this is most certainly a classy thing to do.

4. The Celtics have just dropped 77 points in the first half of Wednesday’s game against the Nuggets. (Game still going on…)

The C’s had just about as dominant a half as any team can. I mean…they’re on pace to score 154 points! I’m not saying they will, but just ridiculous. This team is going to be insane this season. They key in this game is that it’s against a very talented team from the Western Conference and we’re wiping them off the floor.
The high-scoring Phoenix Suns have scored 76 points through three quarters.
To put it in more perspective, the Celtics had just 78 points through FOUR quarters last Sunday against the Raptors.
Are the Celtics running up the score?…