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Former Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers was back at TD Garden on Tuesday night for the annual ABCD Hoop Dreams event. Rivers, now the head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers, was asked about the 2008 championship team ahead of Ray Allen’s Hall of Fame induction this weekend.
Rivers said that he hates to see the fracturing that has taken place between the 2008 Celtics team. “As years have gone on, things have been fractured and I hate it. I hate seeing it. I would love this celebration for Ray. Not a lot to say here about it. Ray won us a title. He really did. I think he should be celebrated. I think he should be celebrated in Boston. He’s responsible for that banner. If I had one wish, I wish I could do a better job of getting that group back together. … There really should be because they were so close and it really hurts me to see what’s going on.”
He said that the 2008 group was a tight and competitive group - one that bought into their roles wholeheartedly. “That team, the 2008 group, was as close of a group as you could ever coach. Everyone bought into their roles. It wasn’t a perfect group all of the time. We had our arguments and our differences and that’s fine. On the floor, I’d take that group every night to go to war. If I had one game to win for my life, I’m taking that 2008 group and we’re going to go to war because you know they were going to show up and do it together.”
Listen to everything Rivers had to say here:
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