Doc happy with the direction Celtics are headed

Doc has to be able to break down and manage each individual game but at the same time he has to keep a long term perspective. The Celtics one the first game without Rondo and then lost the second, but there's progress that Doc saw there.

Doc: C's headed in right direction - Boston Celtics Blog - ESPN Boston

"Overall, the last two games, I like where we're at," said Rivers. "But we've got to continue to do it. We've yet to be consistent, in my opinion. You can be consistent and lose a game, and I think Milwaukee was an example of that. I thought we played with the right spirit, but we just have to have that consistent effort."

Boston Celtics answered Doc Rivers' call for tougher mindset - ESPN Boston

The loss to Brooklyn might have been the wake-up call Boston needed, and Saturday's loss to Milwaukee might have been the necessary evidence of what the right mindset can help to achieve. If the Celtics can establish their opening-quarter effort against the Bucks as their way of playing, a spike in the win column might not be far behind. "I think we're doing a better job," Courtney Lee said. "Even after we lost against Milwaukee, Doc touched point on you can see our team getting better, you can see us playing for each other out there, trying to make the extra plays, and that's going to be our identity on the defensive end, covering for each other. And on the offensive end, just attacking and moving the ball around."

You can only focus on the negatives and break down the mistakes so long before a team gets tired of hearing about it. You can sense that from some of Pierce's comments.

Green tackle identity problem - BostonHerald.com

Asked about the difficulty of having it for 82 regular-season games, the captain said, "I mean, it's our job. We understand what our weaknesses are. We understand it in practice. We talk about it all the time, so we've just got to implant it in our heads that night in and night out this is what we have to do.

"Maybe if we look at games where we've done it well and say, you know, we're capable of doing it, it's just about having that mindset and knowing, going into the game, this is what needs to be done. We have to be a more physical team. We've got to rebound. We've got to defend in order to win games."

As the Life of Brian might sing... always look on the bright side of life.