by Jeff Zillgitt, USA TODAY Sports

During his high school days, when possible, New Orleans Hornets rookie guard Austin Rivers used to scrimmage with the Boston Celtics, where his dad, Doc Rivers, is the coach.

He is used to go one-on-one against Celtics star forward Paul Pierce. Legend has it, Austin, as a sophomore, almost beat Pierce in a game to five. He had a 4-2 lead until Pierce scored the next three points.

On Wednesday, father and son will go against each other for the first time when the Celtics play the Hornets, and Pierce will get another chance to show the youngster how the game is played.

“It’s going to be a lot of pressure on him. He’s going to be very nervous, tense,” Pierce told reporters Tuesday. “That’s a difficult situation. I couldn’t imagine it. … He was out to get me when he was a high school player so I’m ready for him.”

Father-son matchups are rare. This will be just the fourth time the NBA since 1976. Mike Dunleavy Sr., and Mike Dunleavy Jr. and George and Coby Karl quickly come to mind, and Jan van Breda Kolff of then-New York Nets played against his dad, then-New Orleans Jazz coach Butch van Breda Kolff.

“This is just a strange thing. It doesn’t happen often obviously,” Doc Rivers said. “As father, it’s nice. It’s nice to see him. The only drawback of him being in the NBA, I haven’t been to a game, and I miss that a little bit.”

Last season, during Austin’s freshman season at Duke, Doc flew to a handful of games and watched almost all either live or on video.

During Austin’s draft preparation, Doc stayed out of the way as much as possible, preferring to let his son, now 20 years old, have the spotlight.

“I think you need to understand that Austin didn’t grow up wanting to play for Duke, Carolina or Kansas, even though those are top-notch programs and schools,” Rivers told USA TODAY Sports the day before the June draft. “He grew up wanting to play for the Atlanta Hawks or the San Antonio Spurs. Austin has been around the NBA … [For more on Doc Rivers goes against his son Austin on Wednesday, click here.]