by Cedric ‘BIG CED’ Thornton
January 13, 2025
While playing for the Atlanta Hawks, he alleges the Celtics made sure the Hawks players did not get food service at the hotel they stayed at
Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers recalled the difficulties he encountered as an Atlanta Hawks player facing the Boston Celtics in 1988, but it was more than the game itself, as his team faced other issues when they played at the infamous Boston Garden.
According to Basketball Network, when discussing the last playoff game in the challenging series against the Eastern Conference team with the best record that year, Rivers spoke about the tactics the Boston team incorporated to gain an advantage against the Hawks before the teams met on the basketball court.
It was Game 7 of the 1988 Eastern Conference Semifinals where the Hawks were up against the Celtics. The game was a winner-takes-all contest to advance to the conference finals, and the favored Celtics, who possessed the best record in the East, held homecourt advantage due to the team’s standing. Outside of the challenge of trying to beat the best team in the east, Rivers stated that the Celtics employed other tactics to help their team gain the edge, even before the game started.
The Celtics owner at the time, Red Auerbach, had a reputation for using unfair measures against opposing teams when they came to Boston, so it wasn’t beyond the players thinking he was behind several things that took place during the series.
“The morning of Game 7, no one got their room service order at the hotel. We didn’t know what was going on,” Rivers stated. “We just assumed it was Red Auerbach being Red Auerbach.”
Being that the players didn’t eat, hunger pains led to them trying to find something to eat when they arrived at the stadium.
“I remember having chips on the bus going to the game. A couple of guys tried to get things after the walkthrough in the ballroom. We were all scrambling just to get something to eat.”
Rivers also recalled that his coach, Mike Fratello went crazy because the chalkboard that he always had to help map out game plans for the team was missing. As his anger increased, Fratello just knew in his mind that Auerbach had something to do with it and it angered him.
“There was no chalkboard for Coach Fratello before Game 7, and I remember him losing his mind. He’s in the hallway screaming, ‘Where the hell is my chalkboard?’ I remember just laughing away,” Rivers said. “We could care less, but Mike was so mad. He was mad at Red. He was just convinced again it was the Boston stuff.”
Whether the tactics worked or not, the Hawks ended up losing to the Celtics in a close game by a score of 118-116.
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