The defending champion Miami Heat have managed to fly under the radar this offseason, largely due to the Los Angeles Lakers and their reloaded roster, but Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers hasn't lost focused on the Heat.
Rivers wants his Celtics to focus all their effort, energy and hatred in the 'Big Three' of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh and the rest of the Heat.
Rivers sat down with Bob Ryan for a Q and A at the Action For Boston Community Development's Hoop Dreams event and had this to say about his drive to defeat the rival Heat team:
"Honestly, I don't care about the Lakers," Rivers said. "My honest thought as a coach right now ... I have my eye squarely on Miami. I come up to my players during the year - they're in the facility now - I bring up Miami every single day to them. I want them to hate them. I want them to beat them. That's got to be our focus."
"I think the Lakers are better," Rivers continued. "I'm actually not one that thinks they're way better. The guy they traded, (Andrew) Bynum, we struggled to guard him. Dwight (Howard) is a great player, but we've guarded him pretty well. Offensively, the (Steve) Nash part is different. I look at them and wonder how that's going to work. I hear they're going to run the Princeton offense, which I want to see the ball move, I want to see Kobe (Bryant) keep moving the ball. But it'll be interesting. They're really good."
Miami has eliminated Boston from the Playoffs the last two straight seasons, and it's not too far of a stretch to assume that they may meet once again in the post season this year.
The Celtics should be beyond the point of hating the Heat by now so it shouldn't be a problem for them muster up some more if they meet in the post season, but the only problem that remains is for them to find a way to defeat the reigning champs.
