telling CLNS he doesn\u2019t think about the jersey retirement anymore<\/a>.<\/p>\nNonetheless, Saturday\u2019s reunion seemed to put all that individual history aside. \u201cIt was a goal, I could tell you that,\u201d Rivers told CLNS\/CelticsBlog. \u201cI\u2019m a big believer, and I\u2019m gonna say this in my speech, but I think when you win it, you do have a blood transfusion. You should be together for life. Those three in particular have had their ups-and-downs, and the fact that they all three agreed to be together on the stage and have dropped the BS, is the way I\u2019d like to put it, is just absolutely amazing. It may be my last great coaching feat, getting them together, but it wasn\u2019t hard. That\u2019s what was so shocking. All three of them, immediately, I called separately, and they all were quick to be added.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rivers focused on relationships in his speech, the bond that 2008 team shared beginning with an expletive-laced reaction by Garnett to their preseason duck boat ride starting at 8 a.m., where they manifested the championship. He continued to reflect on the importance of the training camp in Rome and how it created chemistry early.<\/p>\n
Rivers managed the Big Three feud, his own up-and-down relationship with Rajon Rondo, who also attended on Saturday after spending recent seasons on Rivers\u2019 Milwaukee coaching staff and increased scrutiny of his coaching record through playoff disappointments with the Clippers, 76ers and Bucks. Yet he put the spiel about about his excuses, which have become infamous, aside to focus on the people around him. His coaching staffs which included Tom Thibodeau and Sam Cassell in attendance, his wife, children and brother Grady, who emotionally sat on camera while Rivers neared tears remembering their late parents. De\u2019Andre Jordan and James Harden also attended the ceremony.<\/p>\n
That, more than any coaching feat, gained Rivers the endearment that expanded far beyond the basketball world. His famous voice, massive personality and spirited outspokenness on social issues made him an American icon as much as a basketball one. He became one of the league\u2019s leading voices through the George Floyd protests, the Bubble and Kobe Bryant\u2019s death. Rivers\u2019 final trip as a head coach to Boston this spring fittingly featured his passionate defense of his criticism of ICE.<\/p>\n
\u201cBack to basketball,\u201d he quipped after the back-and-forth with a reporter about the subject. \u201cBut life is more important, as you guys know.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hall of Fame induction ceremony takes place at Symphony Hall in Springfield, a tiny downtown with the Hall at its heart. Watching Harden stroll down a side street to shock and applause, women\u2019s basketball royalty lining the sidewalk and Garnett walking out of the 2,600-seat venue like he, Allen Iverson and Dwyane Wade were leaving a high school graduation was a basketball dream. These figures, Joey Crawford among them, helped shape 2000s basketball and anyone who grew up watching them.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re now history, Carmelo Anthony headlining last year\u2019s class and Rivers predicting Rondo will join one soon. It struck me for a moment what the venue, with a sparse group of reporters present and many empty seats in the balcony, would look like when LeBron James enters one day.<\/p>\n
Amar\u2019e Stoudamire also entered the Hall of Saturday, as did Mike D\u2019Antoni, Elena Delle Donne, the 1996 US Women\u2019s national team that featured Dawn Staley, Sheryl Swoopes and Lisa Leslie. Mark Few, Chamique Holdsclaw and Candace Parker also received inductions, Parker and Rivers sharing their love for their native Chicago throughout the weekend. The list raised annual debates about the standard for reaching Springfield, but when the memories began flowing and the magnitude of what some of the names meant to the game, and the feeling around it, nobody complained in attendance.<\/p>\n
And the huddle Pierce, Garnett, Allen and Rivers shared after will live forever.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mom was right, I\u2019m right where I\u2019m supposed to be,\u201d Rivers wrapped. \u201cUbuntu.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPRINGFIELD, Mass. \u2014 The Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen feud felt so distant and settled that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":817635,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[335184,355,99],"class_list":["post-817634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-boston-celtics-history","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}