Celtics Pregame Report: No Changes from Doc

Posted by Brian Robb on Mar 12, 2010 66920 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2010%2F03%2F12%2Fceltics-pregame-report-no-changes-from-doc%2FCeltics+Pregame+Report%3A+No+Changes+from+Doc2010-03-13+00%3A23%3A54Brian+Robbhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D6692

A few notes from the Celtic locker room pregame session.

* The biggest news from Doc Rivers’ pregame session was the announcement Doc had thought “long and hard” about making changes to the team’s rotation but would be sticking to business as usual, with this unit. He still likes this team, they just have to play better. So with that, we can put the starting lineup change talk (though interesting and warranted), to bed for now.

* Rajon Rondo spoke with the media for about 10 minutes, notable due to the fact that Rajon rarely speaks before games. He was very blunt in speaking about how he still had confidence in this team, with primarily deadpan responses when questioned  about potential changes and his own play and confidence level.

He feels he is much more confident in how own play at this point this season compared to this time last year. He perceives this team will “turn a corner,” since there is still time left for it. When asked how close the team was to turning that corner, Rondo replied with a candid quip about not being that close right now, but, “we are at least in the same zip code.”

* Kendrick Perkins also spoke at length with this media, saying he has to improve his own play, and get back to basics with rebounds. He doesn’t care about the numbers only about the team getting W’s no matter how he performs.

A couple interesting remarks came along the lines of practice for Perk, when he stated this team hadn’t been doing it enough lately. He understood the need to rest the veterans but believed this team could use the extra work.

* Doc Rivers echoed that sentiment in his own pregame comments. He admitted that while the additional rest for the team this year may have had good intentions, it ultimately had appeared to be counterproductive to the team as far as conditioning and their overall play has gone.

Doc will look to practice more, for instance on the offday tomorrow before Cleveland, the team will have a hard practice, win or loss tonight. Doc admitted the team may feel the repercussions on Sunday but that would be worth it, in order to help the team get back into rhythm. When asked about the effect on the veterans, Doc stated, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett might have to sit out games here and there after hard practices if need be, but they all needed the work so they can be at their peak come playoff time.

That’s it for now, much more to come live from the Garden tonight.