Doc Rivers Recreates NBA History
September 21, 2008 by
Amid all the hoopla of the Boston Celtics' sound thrashing of the supposedly vaunted Los Angeles Lakers and superstar shooting guard Kobe Bryant, is the fact the Celtics' head coach Glen 'Doc' Rivers has become the
first African-American NBA head coach to lead his team to an NBA championship since NBA legend and Hall of Fame inductee, K.C. Jones accomplished the feat by leading the very same Celtics franchise to their last NBA championship in 1985-86, when they beat the Houston Rockets 4-2.
Now, I know a lot of Rivers' critics will almost immediately come up with the argument that Rivers' success lies solely at the feet of Boston's three future Hall of Fame inductees, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett - and while much of that theory would be true - simply because good players win games in the NBA, the fact of the matter is that Rivers pushed all the right buttons in leading the Celtics to their first NBA title in 22 seasons.
Not only did Rivers masterfully guide the Celtics through an extremely treacherous postseason run, beginning with their first round series against the Atlanta Hawks, but Rivers - dare I say it - totally out-coached Lakers Hall of Fame head coach Phil Jackson the entire duration of the NBA Finals.
In particular, Rivers was clearly more masterful in the teams' now, historic Game 4 matchup in which the Celtics stormed back from a huge 24-point deficit to pull off the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history.
Whether he's ever given his proper credit for Boston's success in 2007-08 or not, (which I suspect he may not be), two questions beg to be asked months after Rivers led the Celtics to their enthralling championship title run.
First, why has the national media largely ignored mentioning Rivers' accomplishment - and more importantly - what impact will Rivers' success mean for other head coaches of color in the short and long-term future for coaches of color in the NBA?'
To answer the first, all one has to do is look at the staggeringly miniscule number of black sports journalists nationally.
Now, I know a lot of Rivers' critics will almost immediately come up with the argument that Rivers' success lies solely at the feet of Boston's three future Hall of Fame inductees, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett - and while much of that theory would be true - simply because good players win games in the NBA, the fact of the matter is that Rivers pushed all the right buttons in leading the Celtics to their first NBA title in 22 seasons.
Not only did Rivers masterfully guide the Celtics through an extremely treacherous postseason run, beginning with their first round series against the Atlanta Hawks, but Rivers - dare I say it - totally out-coached Lakers Hall of Fame head coach Phil Jackson the entire duration of the NBA Finals.
In particular, Rivers was clearly more masterful in the teams' now, historic Game 4 matchup in which the Celtics stormed back from a huge 24-point deficit to pull off the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history.
Whether he's ever given his proper credit for Boston's success in 2007-08 or not, (which I suspect he may not be), two questions beg to be asked months after Rivers led the Celtics to their enthralling championship title run.
First, why has the national media largely ignored mentioning Rivers' accomplishment - and more importantly - what impact will Rivers' success mean for other head coaches of color in the short and long-term future for coaches of color in the NBA?'
To answer the first, all one has to do is look at the staggeringly miniscule number of black sports journalists nationally.
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- Rivers out-coached counterpart Phil Jackson in the 2007-08 NBA Finals.
- Why has the national media ignored mentioning Rivers' accomplishment?
- Rivers is just the fifth African-American head coach in NBAhistory to win an NBA championship.
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TheChosen1
Posted on 02/22/2009 at 8:02:52 AM