“Honestly, I just thought we had nothing left,’’ Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “That’s how it felt as a coach. I was trying to push every button we possibly had. Everything was front rim. We started throwing the ball away. They started beating us off the dribble.

“I wanted this group somehow [to win] – when you think about this group, no Jeff Green, no Chris Wilcox, no Avery Bradley, no JO. If he would have got this group to the Finals, it would have been fantastic for us.’’