Doc has been such a strong, calming voice in these trying days, but as our focus shifts to basketball, he's got the Celtics geared up for the playoffs:
"I love it, because it becomes just a war," Rivers said of having a single opponent. "It becomes a mental war. It really does. You have to have great focus. You're going to get taken out of your stuff. You've got to be mentally tough enough to still execute. When they're calling the plays, we can tell them where they should go. Same way, the other way.
"I love the playoffs. I love the NBA format. Game 1, Game 2, it's just a great mental test for each team. And, to me, it always turns out that somebody comes apart when you watch the playoffs. It always happens. Sometimes teams are better. But when it's really close, usually one team pulls together and figures out and everything's on the same page, and the other team comes apart. And it's your job to try to force the other team to do that, and I love that."
