BOSTON - It is now Year 2 for Doc Rivers in La La Land.
Last year was a big moment when he returned to Boston for the first time as head coach of the Clippers.
This year it felt much more like a regular game.
There was no postgame podium press conference. There was no video tribute. There were no tears.
It was just Rivers' Clippers kicking the Celtics' butts up and down the court on Sunday en route to a 119-106 win that was a much bigger blowout than the final score indicates.
As the playoffs near, Rivers has his Clippers team in the middle of the Western Conference playoff race and playing some great basketball.
The Celtics, well, they're now in a playoff race, too, but it's pretty clear they aren't quite Western-Conference-title-contender-ready. That's OK, though, because the "rebuilding" C's are on the right track. The fact remains that Celtics President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge has them in a good position for the future.
They've got some young pieces, plenty of draft picks, cap space coming up, and are trotting out a somewhat competitive team in the Eastern Conference looking to claw its way into the playoffs.
That's not so bad when you consider they blew things up less than two seasons ago and traded away their All-Star point guard earlier this season.
And take a look at some of the bad teams in the NBA. The Lakers, Knicks, and Nuggets will all miss the playoffs and don't have nearly the assets Boston does to improve at the same rate. Then there's Brooklyn, who made the big trade with Boston that has completely backfired on them. These are just a few examples.
This is something Doc Rivers, who is now in charge of his own team's personnel moves as well, notices. After all, the C's added an first-round draft pick when Rivers joined the Clippers, too.
"I just think they are ahead of all the other rebuilding teams because of all the things they have," Rivers said before Sunday's game. "When you look at their team, they have good players. They have assets, players, youth, they have draft picks, and they have money. A lot of teams have one of those, none of the teams have all of them."
Rivers joked that the Celtics have 1,200 draft picks over the next two years. That number is just a bit high - as of now, anyways.
