Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers, his team tenuously hanging on to the the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference, called the Celtics' 93-86 loss Thursday in Chicago to the Bulls "unacceptable" and warned of what could happen if the team doesn't start playing better.
"I thought that was the worst loss for us this year, with the way we approached the game,” Rivers told reporters after his team blew an 11-point halftime lead, adding that with the playoffs near, the way the Celtics played could land them an unfavorable first-round matchup.
Thursday’s loss—the Celtics’ second in as many nights—cut a half-game off their Atlantic Division lead on the Sixers, who were idle.
Boston (30-24) holds a one-game lead over the Philadelphia 76ers, who visit Boston on Sunday, but if the Celtics don't win the division, they'll likely slip to the seventh or eighth seed and face the Eastern Conference-leading Bulls or current No. 2 seed Miami Heat in the first round.
"We've got three weeks, with the way we're playing," Rivers said. "If we play like that, we'll be playing one of them in the first round, so we've got to get better.
"That was unacceptable. That's on me first. I did something where I didn't see something tonight. It's always on the coach. That's an unacceptable effort for us. I don't say that very often. I don't think I've ever said that. That was a crime. It was tough to talk after the game, because about what? We've got to be better than that. I don't want to hear about us winning crap, not with that effort."
The Celtics led by as many as 13 and were up by 11 at halftime, but Rivers didn't like any part of the effort, particularly the way his team approached the game.
"Listen, I'm just (angry) at the way we played," Rivers said. "Honestly, the playoffs are the furthest thing from my mind. We haven't been that way, but we were tonight.
"We were cool tonight. We were the cool Boston Celtics, that's who we looked like. Walking the ball up (and) we couldn't get the ball inbounds. No one wanted to work. We were the cool Celtics, and there's nothing about me that's cool, I can tell you that. We don't play basketball cool."
Rivers also questioned his team's toughness.
"Then in the second half, I just thought Chicago, they were too tough for us. Their toughness made us let go of the ropes. You could see it; we wanted to use all the excuses all night. I just thought Chicago was too tough for us tonight.
"I think this team has shown great resolve, but right now, that's twice now (the Celtics have struggled in Chicago). They get into it, they get frustrated, and our guys let go of the ropes. Bottom line, we're not going to go a lot of places playing with that type of mental toughness. Chicago's tougher than us right now."
Though Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce acknowledged to the Boston Herald that an emotional Rivers gave everyone a piece of his anger after the game, they didn’t necessarily agree with his assessment.
“I don’t know if it is that,” Pierce said of Rivers calling it the worst game of the year. “Everybody is frustrated we lost. I don’t know if it was the worst loss, but we are disappointed whenever we lose. It’s a tough one. We had a good lead, they didn’t have their star (guard Derrick Rose) in the game, but they’ve also been winning a lot of games without him. They earned the win.”
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