As we sit on the cusp of the NBA finals, I feel compelled to take a moment to give kudos to Doc Rivers, head coach of the Boston Celtics.

This is not a reactionary thought on my part, rather, I’ve been mulling over just how good I really think he is since their most recent championship in 2008. Many analysts and pundits will attribute the sudden success to his “Big 3.” Sure, the players are the ones who actually win the championships, but one look at the track record of Phil Jackson will tell you that coaching is oh-so-critical to making that happen.

I came into the playoffs figuring Boston didn’t have enough to make the finals. With aging stars, a point guard who has always struggled from the free throw line, and an often inconsistent bench, I expected more of the hijinks we saw in the regular season as they surrendered more than a dozen leads during the fourth quarter. Heck, I had them penciled in to be out in the first round at the hands of the Miami Heat. Wow was I wrong!

Let’s look at the results of their performances to date:

Round One vs. Miami Heat
4-1 series win/loss record, including a points advantage of 479-438 (95.8 ppg to 87.6)

Round Two vs. Cleveland Cavaliers
4-2 series win/loss record, including a points advantage of 603-571 (100.5 ppg to 95.2)

Round Three vs. Orlando Magic (First three games)
3-0 series lead, point advantage of 281-251 (93.7 ppg to 83.7)

So they have proceeded to pretty thoroughly dismantle the Heat, who in all reality were good but not the class of the NBA this season, and two of the top 3-4 overall teams in the league. This is a team who really struggled at times this year, but they always did one thing well…play shut-down perimeter defense.  When you combine the nice interior depth they bring to the table with the unyielding focus on defending the three point line, it’s rather hard to beat this team.

I don’t know if he had them pacing themselves for the playoffs, if the injuries negatively affected their in-season performance, or if this is just experience and desire pushing them, but no matter what the answer is, this is one of the best coached teams in the NBA.

So what if they have aging stars. They have done a great job of grooming Rajon Rondo to be a star, and I suppose mentoring from one of the best point guards in the history of the game might help there! The bench is deep and talented, and the rotation is fluid enough to take advantage of whomever it is that shows up each night with the hottest hand.

In all fairness, though, let’s not crown the guy as the next big thing just yet. He has to finish out the Magic, which shouldn’t be too difficult with a 3-game lead and two home games remaining. Don’t forget that he most certainly has a reason to be motivated against Orlando… they dumped him not so long ago after he and the team suffered through a couple of tough seasons. Surely he thought they had an itchy trigger finger.

Then, Doc has to take on the biggest test of the year…a best-of-seven series with his “archrival as an NBA player” Los Angeles Lakers. Yes, I already have these two teams penciled in as the finals matchup. Let’s see how he fares against the consensus best coach in the NBA (and one of the best of all time if you look at number of national championship teams coached) and it’s superstar-loaded lineup, and then we’ll know what we have here.

This is lining up to be one of the most exciting finals that I can remember. I just hope both teams do us proud and the league lets them play with equitable officiating, and this will most certainly be a finals for the ages. After all, the two best coaches, two of the most loaded lineups in all of basketball, and a master chess match. Are you getting excited yet or what?