BOSTON – Kevin Garnett said he simply took what the Lakers gave him.
But Boston coach Doc Rivers didn’t think the Celtics gave the ball to Garnett enough.
“K.G. was great,” rivers said after Garnett scored 25 points – after scoring 22 in the first two Finals games combined. “Didn’t get it enough. We talked about 20 shots before the game. He shot 16 (made 11), should have had 25 as far as I was concerned.”
Garnett scored on Boston’s first three shots. He sustained. The team did not.
“I took what they gave, stayed aggressive, hit my shots,” explained Garnett. “We went through a drought and obviously against a team like this, you can’t get down, 16, 17 points. It’s too big a deficit to try to come out of it. For the most part we did. We had a chance to win, we just couldn’t do it.”
There are reports, unconfirmed but that never stopped inquiring minds from asking, of Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo receiving a $6 million offer to coach the Cavs. So how does that sit with the two NBA Finals coaches, both past title winners? And why do many college coaches fail?
“Good for him, way to go,” said Phil Jackson, he of 10 coaching titles and a $12 million contract. “It’s not an easy job. And when it’s 200 some days, depending on how far you go in the playoffs, it’s a pretty arduous task…The game itself, 82 games, is a big difference from 30 or whatever you coach in college.”
Said Doc Rivers, who won with Boston in 2008 and makes $5 million, “Usually, when you take a job in the league, it’s usually because a team hasn’t done well and usually they don’t have a lot of players and (those) are the jobs a lot of the college coaches have gotten.”
The premise was put to Doc Rivers that C Kendrick Perkins was better around the basket early in the season and got progressively worse. Rivers’ take: “I agree. He’s gotten away from finishing quickly…Guys work on something all summer, they come back in the year and do it right out of the gates and they’re successful. Then they get away from it and it’s tough to get it back.”
Rajon Rondo shot 5-of-10 and Kevin Garnett was 11-of-16. The other three Celtic starters were 6-of-29 (.207). . .Lakers had just 13 assists on 34 field goals. -30-