Boston Celtics legend Kevin Garnett has shared a story about how former head coach Doc Rivers motivated his players during the 2009-10 NBA season, revealing that Rivers collected money from everyone in the locker room and hid it inside the ceiling at the Lakers’ arena.
According to Garnett, the incident took place during an early-season visit to Los Angeles, when Boston was struggling to find its rhythm.
Rivers used the opportunity to challenge his players to believe they could return to the same arena for the NBA Finals.
“It was ’09–’10. We went into ’08, we go home, Conference Finals. ’09, the Lakers win it, and then we match up with the Lakers in ’10. But when we started off the year, we didn’t start off with the greatest start. We play the Lakers in L.A., and Doc comes in and says, ‘I want everybody to give me a hundred dollars.’”
The unexpected request initially confused Garnett and his teammates, who were unsure why their coach wanted money from everyone.
“Why? I’m looking around at people like, ‘Goddamn it.’ I pull out a hundred dollars. Everybody’s pulling out money. Johnny Joe, who’s the equipment manager, goes around, and he’s grabbing all of it.”
Garnett explained that Rivers did not limit the challenge to players. Coaches, trainers, video personnel and other staff members were also expected to contribute.
MORE FOR YOU
“As he’s grabbing it, you see that it’s starting to accumulate. It’s like maybe 30 people in this room, with coaches and players. You got 15 players, then you got seven, eight coaches, then you got your video guys, everybody around, trainers. So all together, it’s like 30 people, and he gets a hundred dollars from every person in here.”
With approximately $3,000 collected, Rivers then did something that surprised everyone in the visiting locker room.
Rather than keeping the money, he climbed onto a chair, removed a ceiling tile and placed the cash above it.
“Long story short, he gets it, and we see it. So he takes a chair, takes the ceiling and removes the ceiling. I’m like, we’re all looking at this before a game, by the way, too. ‘Doc, what are you doing?’”
Rivers explained that the Celtics would only recover their money if they returned to Los Angeles for the championship series.
“He puts the money up there, and then he puts the ceiling back. Comes down, gets out of the chair, and says, ‘We’re coming back to get that money.’ He says, ‘We’re coming back to get that money.’ I said, ‘Hold on.’ Like, we’re in L.A., right? We’re in the Staples Center. I’m like, ‘What?’ So I was thinking, ‘Man, I need to start pushing this ceiling back and seeing what’s up here. He’s putting money up here thinking that it’s going to be here.’”
Garnett initially questioned whether the money would still be there months later, but Rivers insisted that the gesture was about the team’s championship ambitions.
“So I was up on him, like, ‘Man, stop tripping.’ And he was like, ‘If you don’t believe, get out. Because we’re coming back here. We’re going to be back here, and we’re going to beat this team for the championship. We’re going to get our second ring in here.’”
Rivers’ prediction about returning to Los Angeles eventually came true.
The Celtics advanced to the 2010 NBA Finals, where they faced Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in a rematch of the 2008 championship series.
Boston pushed Los Angeles to seven games but ultimately lost the deciding contest, falling short of securing its second title in three seasons.
