Throughout the playoffs, Celtics coach Doc Rivers has consistently been preaching the same message to his players: Don't try to be the hero.
“We are who we are,” Rivers said before Game Five against the Cleveland Cavaliers . “We don’t need anyone to play hero basketball. We have to be a team. We’re good when we’re a team.”
While LeBron James was giving Rivers a clinic on what happens when your best chance of winning boils down to a glorified 1-on-1 game, Rivers was doing everything in his power to divert his team from adapting that game plan.
Understandably so. When the Celtics won their championship two years ago, Rivers trumpeted the concept of “ubuntu” — a South African term that boils down to mean “collective success” (or “enabling the community around you”).
For the Celtics’ Big Three to achieve their championship dreams, they needed to learn to pool their collective talents.
Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett were all so used to being “the guy” on their former respective teams that meshing the thre ...
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Article written by Bryan Toporek
2010 NBA Playoffs: Boston Celtics’ ‘Hero Act’ Proves Costly in Game Four
May 25th, 2010 by Bryan Toporek Leave a reply »
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