Doc Rivers Thinks the Celtics Can Survive Without a Point Guard

The Boston Celtics find themselves in a very tough spot without Rajon Rondo. There’s a chance that some minor help could be on its way, but the proud veteran players are steeling themselves to go into battle without their floor general, and head coach Doc Rivers suggests they can even succeed without a true point guard. Per the Boston Herald: “It’s just basketball. There’s no point guard. It’s basketball by committee,’ Rivers said before Celtics practice yesterday. ‘I had some teams in Orlando (when coaching the Magic) — Darrell Armstrong was my point guard, and he’s a little like JET (Terry). Grant Hill brought it up sometimes. We had the year with Grant Hill, Mike Miller and Darrell Armstrong, and whoever brought it up brought it up. It didn’t hurt us at all, we scored a ton of points. We just didn’t have a lot more talent after that.’ The C’s presumably do have more talent, their record notwithstanding. According to Rivers, NBA history is filled with examples of teams that took a community approach to bringing the ball up and setting up an offense. Rivers mentioned the Dennis Johnson/Danny Ainge backcourt, which is the direction the Celtics took following the departure of Tiny Archibald. And then there were Michael Jordan’s Bulls. ‘Before it didn’t matter — Rondo is bringing the ball up,’ Rivers said. ‘Now you have to really be focused on where their pressure is coming from. Think back to the Bulls with Michael. They had three guys. If we pressured B.J. Armstrong, Michael brought it up. If we pressured Michael, then Scottie (Pippen) brought it up. It’s not that hard to do. There really are no different roles. I don’t want a guy to now think he’s Rondo. The only thing that may be different is someone else brings the ball up. That’s it.’ In a pinch, Rivers has also run his offense through Paul Pierce. That may not be as advisable now, with the Celtics captain often struggling to set up his own shot, let alone that of others. The exception was his triple-double in Sunday’s double-overtime win against the Miami Heat, his first since December 2010. But dipping into some of Pierce’s old point forward role may be inevitable.”