Doc Rivers wishes it 'could've ended better, says Celtics would've won 2-3 titles if Garnett wasn't hurt

Doc Rivers was back on the parquet floor of the TD Garden today, talking to reporters before this evening's Celtics-Clippers contest.  The Boston Globe's Baxter Holmes shared the following quotes (and posted the above photo on twitter):

On his departure from Boston:

"I did wish it could’ve ended better, I guess. It wasn’t like Danny (Ainge) and I were arguing or anything. It was dragged out. I don’t know if there was any way you couldn’t drag it out. It wasn’t like I was involved in that. The part I was involved in was where I couldn’t make up my mind what I wanted to do … but then after that went through, the process with the two teams, I felt like it took two months. It may have. That’s how it felt. The strange part for me during that whole thing, I just had to sit there and listen and watch, and that part I hated, because it made everyone look bad, and I didn’t like that."

On tonight's game:

"Yeah, it’s going to be hard tonight. I already told my coaches that it’s just going to be hard. You don’t spend nine years in one place and win a title and have the emotions you have toward the city and the fans and be normal when the game starts. That’s just not going to happen, at least I don’t think so. I’ve already prepared my coaches to be good coaches tonight, because it’s just going to be too tough for me."

And on championships:

"Listen, the championship is what I’ll remember. It’s not what I think about the most, unfortunately. In a sad way, I think about 2010 far more than I think about 2008...I think about 2009 a lot. I tell people, we were the best team in the league in 2009 and then when Kevin (Garnett) went down obviously we were never the same ever. I should just look back on 2008 and be thankful, but I don’t think coaches ever work that way. I swear, I believe if Kevin was healthy, we could’ve won two, maybe three in a row. That would’ve been really sweet."

I don't blame you Doc, I think about 2009 too...  That year was an absolute lock.  The Celtics started the season 27-2, and were 44-11 when KG went down.


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