Doc Rivers Last Quotations

Last year was horrendous. We had to stop and refuel. Those trips took nine and 10 hours.

We narrowed it down to Jackson and then Freddie Jones (who would take the last shot). Tony got up into Jackson, which I thought was the right thing to do, and they had to shoot a fade-away shot.

You knew they were going to come at you. It was a no-brainer. I don't think we understood that. Last night we came out ready to play and we were focused. We talked about that tonight, but they did it.

We got great shots and didn't make them, but that might have been because of last night (in Miami). Last night was up and down, and tonight was slow. I liked tonight's tempo, because we didn't have the legs to do it again.

What really makes me excited is that it (ticks) Gilbert Arenas off because that's what he said the last time. It was a great win for us.

Even if we got it up court, we wouldn't have gotten a good shot off. It's a tough loss. The game felt like the last team who had the ball was going to score. Nobody was playing defense on either team.

Another calm night. I think we deserved that one after the last two times that we played them. We felt we stole this one tonight. But we felt they stole two from us, so we owed them that one.

San Antonio is the best defensive team in the last seven or eight years. They don't normally change things, but they changed their (defensive) coverage three or four times in that game. It didn't work, unfortunately.

As far away as we are, we are still very close to becoming a good team. When we decided to break this team down last year, letting Antoine (Walker) and Gary (Payton) go, we understood what that would mean. We still hoped to make the playoffs and that's disappointing, but I think this team will be better sooner rather than later.

They have a point to prove to a lot of people, and they go out to prove that every night. They feel like they blew one last year, and the only way to prove that point is by winning it again.

It's a tough loss. The game felt like the team who had the ball last was going to score. Nobody was playing defense on either team. I guess that's what people want to watch. I don't.

These last five or six games are tough, and like I told Danny (Ainge), I don't know what to do. But this is nothing I want to go through again. Me and Danny are on the same page about this, though. We have to keep teaching the young guys.

The difference in him now from last year is that he keeps his teammates involved. He scored 36 in the flow, and if he was selfish he could have scored 50 and they may have lost.