Belichick Gets Schooled By Doc

As we all know, the Celtics won banner number 17 two nights ago and it's pretty much been a nonstop party since that time. There's really nothing better than seeing a hometown team dominate the news in Boston, New England and across the country. I even love hearing the fake applause that Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen got on David Letterman's show last night. If he hosted that show in Boston and the Knicks had just won the NBA Championship and New York players were coming on the show, I guarantee you that we would boo them. That's just how we roll in Massachusetts.

Now to the point of this post: During game six, I thought I kept seeing Bill Belichick sitting under the Celtics hoop and, sure enough, I was right. He was with girlfriend Linda Holliday again and I can only hope that she was the one taking notes on how to close out games. I never in a million years thought I'd ever say anything like this but I think that Belichick could learn a lot from Doc Rivers. Doc seemed to make all of the right moves, made some big in game adjustments to either help his team hold onto a lead or to help them overcome large deficits and listened to his star players when they wanted to switch defensive assignments (Paul Pierce asking to guard Kobe "Therapist" Bryant in game four).

By contrast, we have Belichick playing the role of Phil Jackson at last year's Super Bowl. Belichick was the one coming in with all of the Super Bowl trophies (Jackson was trying to break Red Auerbach's record for coaching championships) but couldn't adjust to his team getting demolished on the biggest stage. There were no in game adjustments by Belichick that gave his team a chance on the offensive or defensive side of the ball. In game six of the NBA Finals, the Celtics kept pouring it on in the closing minutes but in the Super Bowl, the Patriots played prevent defense on the Giants' last possession. The only thing that the prevent defense does is prevent you from winning. Doc's star players came through down the stretch, as opposed to Belichick's star players shrinking (Rodney HGHarrison, Asante Samuel, and the entire offensive line).

Yeah, I know that this is like comparing apples and oranges but in each sports biggest game, Doc Rivers totally dominated Bill Belichick. And let's not forget that Belichick was the one leaving the stadium with time left on the clock while Doc stayed around for a nice refreshing Gatorade shower.

As Mayor Mennino says, "Weah gonna have a pawade in dis town!"