As this year's cohort of inductees are feted at the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, the Ubuntu-era Boston Celtics (or at least, the three most prominent members thereof) will reassemble to send their head coach into the Hall, his title with the Celtics a big part of why Glen "Doc" Rivers has earned that honor.
Fellow Boston Hall of Fame alumni in their own right, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce will speak ahead of Rivers' induction to the Hall, and the gesture is not lot on the former Celtics head coach. "Having them on stage means the world to me," said Rivers in a recent interview with Andscape senior reporter Marc J. Spears. "I love to see these guys together."
"Winning a title should be like having a blood
transfusion, as I’ve said many times, and these guys will always be tied together," he added, alluding to their post-Celtics fallout. "It’s good to see them that way here. It’s interesting: I didn’t realize that when you made the Hall, the only people you can have introduce you are people in the Hall (...)."
For Rivers, his time in Boston will always be a pillar of his career as an NBA coach. "Without the Boston Celtics in my life, I’m not having this discussion with you," he explained. "And it’s really cool how we did it."
"We started from scratch. And we built that franchise back up. That’s the thing you think about when you think about being proud. Like Paul said, 'We had not won in like 17 years.' We were at the bottom. We worked our way up. That’s pretty cool."
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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Doc Rivers on Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen Hall of Fame induction, Celtics title
