Speaking before his team's game with the Bucks at TD Garden Sunday night, Celtics coach Doc Rivers said that claiming the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference is no longer a primary goal for the C's. Rivers explained that simply getting through the regular season in good physical shape is the priority.
"I would like it. It's not going to be a deal-breaker for us, honestly," said Rivers, whose team was one game ahead of No. 2 Chicago heading into Sunday night's game. "I want it, though. I think it's important. But right now I can say I'm not focused on that at all. I'm not thinking about the one-seed at all. Early in the year we were clearly thinking about it, but right now I think about getting guys back healthy. Let's act like a one-seed even if we're not."
Along the lines of what Rivers talked about regarding the importance of getting bodies back healthy for the Celts, the coach touched on the importance of getting Glen Davis back in the lineup, starting with the match-up against Milwaukee. Davis has been out since straining the patella tendon in his left knee March 2 in Phoenix. Since the injury, the Celtics have gone 2-2.
"Just another body," said Rivers when asked what he was looking forward to most regarding the return of Davis. "I love Baby and we need his good play, but with the bigs we have I will take a bad-playing Baby tonight. Really. It still gives us an extra body. You look at our bench now and we have [Troy] Murphy and Jeff Green as our back-up bigs, and that's when we want to go small. It's good to have him back."
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