It takes me a while to read through Bill's articles, so you'll excuse me if I'm just seeing this now. It seems like Simmons is actually giving Doc Rivers some credit! And it only took till we were up 2-0 in the Finals. Actually, in truth, this is about as backhanded as you can get with compliments, with qualifiers at every turn. Still, I thought it was worth noting.
For all the grief that Doc Rivers has taken (and yes, I'm one of the grief-givers), he has gotten better throughout the playoffs. Other than the ongoing House/Cassell tragedy (don't get me started), I haven't disagreed with anything Rivers did in the Lakers or Pistons series except for burying Leon Powe against Detroit, which was inexplicable at the time and seems twice as perplexing after what happened Sunday night (21 points, two roof-shaking dunks). I thought Rivers coached the best game of his career in Game 2, calling timeouts at the right times, shortening his rotation, making the right adjustments and even keeping an on-fire Rajon Rondo (16 assists) in the game for the entire second half. I didn't disagree with a single move, except for playing Cassell, who is obviously blackmailing him, so we'll let it slide. As I've written in the past, I'm a big believer in "getting reps" in life, whether it's speaking in public, driving a race car, performing in a porn movie, coaching a basketball team or whatever. Maybe Doc just needed to get some playoff reps in. I keep telling myself this.
Perhaps Doc will end world hunger someday, and maybe then Bill will learn to forgive and forget. Till then, winning two more games will have to do.
In other "worldwide leader" news, Marc Stein isn't letting people feel sorry for the Lakers. Good times.