TORONTO — As the Celtics, Clippers and Doc Rivers engaged in discussions that wound up sending Rivers from Boston to Los Angeles to coach and run the front office of the Clippers, the possibility of Kevin Garnett joining his longtime coach out on the left coast also came up.
That wound up not happening, and Garnett eventually was traded from Boston to Brooklyn with Paul Pierce a few weeks later. But when Garnett was asked if he had given it any thought during the past few days as the firestorm surrounding Clippers owner Donald Sterling played out, Garnett dismissed the question in his own unique way.
“I’m a Net,” he said after the team practiced Tuesday before flying to Toronto for Game 5 against the Raptors Wednesday. “I don’t focus on almost.
“In high school, I never dealt with the chick that almost wanted to go out with me … definites are everything in my book.”
Not surprisingly, Garnett was unequivocal in his praise of Rivers and how he has handled the situation, saying the Clippers couldn’t be in better hands.
“If any coach can deal with it, it’s him,” Garnett said. “He’s one of the most resilient coaches I’ve ever played for. … He’s a good person, and I hope he’s able to spread that to his players and his organization.”
Pierce also empathized with Rivers, who has declined to comment on his future in Los Angeles beyond this postseason after everything that has happened over the past few days.
“It’s a tough situation,” Pierce said. “Your owner is labeled as a racist. You’re a head coach, [vice] president [of the team]. It’s a tough situation to work for somebody like that, so it’s hard to be in that situation this time of the year, so much on the line.
“But I know Doc is very headstrong and he’ll work it out.”