Dooling With Toucher & Rich: 'Extremely Confident' Heading Into Round 1
The Boston Celtics have locked up the Atlantic Division but are still looking for the home court advantage over the Atlanta Hawks.
Veteran point guard Keyon Dooling spoke with Toucher & Rich about being the Vice President for the NBA Players Association during the lockout, the seven game suspension of Ron Artest and hyping up Celtics guard Avery Bradley.
The NBA lockout lasted so long that there was a threat no games would be played this season. Luckily for fans the two sides were able to work things it time to at least get a shortened season in. Being the VP for the NBA Players Association were players just calling him constantly and who bugged him the most?
"I've got a very, very unique relationship with a lot of different guys in our league. I've mentored a lot of guys and therefore I'm connected to a lot of the guys that they mentored, so a lot of people lean on me for information...I was getting ten to twenty calls a day in the summertime."
Los Angeles Laker forward Ron Artest received a seven game suspension for elbowing Oklahoma City Thunder guard James Harden in the head this past Sunday. Does Dooling think that seven games is enough of a punishment?
"That's not my battle to fight...I think Ron is a very emotional guy and I think at that particular moment his emotions got the better of him."
The guys referenced something they had heard from Dooling in the past about how he hypes Avery Bradley up for games. The guys got Dooling to give them a taste of the way he tries to hype the young guard up.
They also went on to discuss the Atlanta Hawk who the Green will be taking on in the first round of the playoffs. How important is home court and what do the Hawks have that scares Dooling?
"I feel like we're a confident enough team, we're a veteran enough team to go out and start a series on the road."
