Guarded optimism after Danny Ainge scare
Celtics head coach Doc Rivers speaks to reporters during basketball practice in Waltham, Mass., on Friday, as they prepare for Saturday's opening game in a first-round NBA playoff series against the Chicago Bulls.
By Steve Bulpett | Boston Herald
PUBLISHED: April 18, 2009 at 12:00 a.m. | UPDATED: November 19, 2018 at 12:00 a.m.
Danny Ainge was doing well yesterday, less than 24 hours after having a heart attack and undergoing surgery. We know this partly because the Celtics and sources report the team's general manager is up and around and looking forward to getting back to work.
But we know this mainly because Doc Rivers, scared five steps closer to his grave by the initial news Thursday, was laughing and texting jokes to his boss.
"I got calls from friends and coaches," Rivers said. "One of them – I won't tell you his name – said, 'We're (expletived). Danny Ainge doesn't drink. He goes to sleep at a reasonable hour. He takes care of himself, and this happens. Look at us. We're screwed!'
"He was joking, but he was serious. He said, 'If that guy has a heart attack, we're done.' You know, Danny lives as pure of a life as anyone you know."
Rivers exhaled when he got the word Ainge had made it through surgery to repair the blockage, and he was feeling even better when Ainge contacted him.
'He texted me and said, 'I'm all right. Just do your job and move on,' " Rivers said.
The coach wrote back, referring to Eddie House hitting his last four treys Wednesday to break Ainge's franchise record for season 3-point percentage.
"I joked about the Eddie thing," Rivers said. "I told him I would have taken him out if I'd known that it was going to do this much damage. . . . I won't tell you what he texted back."
Ray Allen thought about Ainge's lifestyle, too, when he got the news Thursday – because he follows a similar path.
"It was scary," Allen said. "When I heard about it, your next thought is how is he? I didn't want to hear any bad news. And it bothered me so much because when I look at Danny I think of him as a guy who did what I did, a guy that won championships, a guy that is very active and fairly young. I was like, wow, I don't think he drinks or smokes or anything. And it's like, I think I'm living my life the way I need to live and then this happens. Anything can happen. You've really just got to live your life. We focus so much on basketball, but at the end of the day you've got to take care of yourself."
Paul Pierce, too, was rocked by the first reports.
"I think it just makes me appreciate the people around you a lot more – everyday relationships, seeing one another – because you don't know when it's your time," he said. "We've been through a lot together. You never want to see somebody go through something like that. It's tough. I'm just kind of dealing with it. I really don't know what to say to him, other than keep your head up. I don't want to send him flowers . . . you know, Danny's not that type."
Pierce laughed, but he noted later his bond with Ainge.
"Most people don't develop a relationship with your GM, but me and him have had our ups and downs until we got to the point where we are today," he said. "It's tough to see a guy like that – such a good guy who I put my trust in and a guy who's believed in me – have something like this happen to him."
If the Celtics seemed a little less concerned about Kevin Garnett's injury, well, that was just perspective taking over.
"This trumps all things," Allen said of Ainge's situation. "This is a life issue. We all feel like we're invincible. We feel like our hearts are so strong and our bodies are so strong, but sometimes things happen that are unexplainable."
Rivers has no problem explaining that he wouldn't be Celtics coach in the first place were it not for his trust in Ainge.
"It's far more than the usual relationship," he said. "We're very close. People were asking me Garnett questions and I just wanted to get out of there to see what was happening with Danny.
"When that happens, you could care less about the basketball thing. Like, who gives a (expletive)? That's just basketball."
Steve Bulpett | Sports Reporter
Steve Bulpett is in his 35th season covering the Celtics. In addition to being the dean of NBA beat writers in continuous service with a team, he's also followed the Celtics as a home and away beat longer than anyone in franchise history. The native of Lynn and Swampscott is a graduate of the University of Dayton, where he pursued dreams of playing basketball and becoming a lawyer. Reality intervened on the court, but he found a way to stay involved in the game. He left UD with an intramural hoop championship (teammates with sportscaster Dan Patrick) and a journalism degree. In recent years, Steve has received APSE national Top 10 honors in feature writing and as both a beat writer and columnist.
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