Celtics Legend Paul Pierce Defends Doc Rivers Against 'Overrated' Criticism on Video

Paul Pierce issued a strong defense of his former head coach, Doc Rivers, amidst criticism later in Rivers' career that he's overrated.

"I think he's great at motivating," he said on the No Fouls Given podcast (11:13 mark). "I think he's great out of timeouts. ... I don't think Doc is overrated because when I look at his failures from the 3-1 [blown series losses] that people kind of go to with Doc, I put that on the players. I mean, come on. Like if you got superstars, can't a superstar can win you one game in four? You know what I'm saying? Without no coaching. You gotta show up."

Danny Green also pointed out that most people don't highly rate Rivers at this point, making it hard to call him overrated (and added that he felt Doc was a good coach).

Rivers won a title and reached the NBA Finals twice with the Boston Celtics but failed to lead the Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers or Milwaukee Bucks past the second round despite 11 total playoff appearances between those teams. That has called into question his ability to get teams over the hump in his post-Celtics coaching era.

That's the narrative, fair or not. Pierce feels it's a bit harsh.