“Give Me $100!”: Kendrick Perkins Recalls Doc Rivers’ ‘$10,000 Motivation’ to Get Celtics Back in NBA Finals Against the Lakers

The Boston Celtics are one of the most successful teams in the NBA, having won 17 championships since 1946. The team has a rich legacy and a historic rivalry with franchises like The Lakers. As Kendrick Perkins recalled in his recent ESPN appearance, coach Doc Rivers had used an ingenious tactic to motivate the Celtics in the early 2000s. He had collected $100 from every player, including Perkins, and stacked $10,000 on the Staples Center’s Away ceiling. This was a way for Doc to motivate the Celtics to get this money back by meeting the Lakers in the Finals.

Kendrick Perkins played for the Celtics from 2003 to 2011, winning a ring with the team in 2008. During that time, Doc Rivers coached the team from 2004 to 2013. From Perkins’ statement, it seems like the $10,000 tactic by Doc Rivers might have taken place sometime between 2007-2010.

Kendrick Perkins recalls a $10,000 tactic

In his recent appearance for NBA on ESPN, Kendrick Perkins revealed an interesting story from his time at Celtics. Doc Rivers was an incredibly motivating personality, pushing the team to win the 2008 championship. During that time itself, Rivers had a unique way of motivating the Celts against their historic rivals, the Lakers.

After a Christmas loss to the Lakers, Doc Rivers had an ingenious plan to motivate his team. He had asked the team members to hand him $100, ultimately collecting $10,000 and stacking it up on the Staples Center’s Away ceiling. In order for the players to get this money back, they had to meet the Lakers in the Finals. Here is how Perkins described the incident from his perspective.

“We played the Lakers on Christmas day and we lost to them and I remember we went to the locker room, and Doc was like, ‘I need everybody to give me a $100.’ And, everybody was like, ‘For what?’ So, he had like, I think it was probably a little over $10,000 in cash.

And he went in to the coach’s office and the visitor’s locker room, and he pushed up and put it in the ceiling. And he said, ‘Listen. Nobody  except for in this locker room knows that this money is up here in the ceiling. In order for us to come back and get this money, we have to meet these [the Lakers] in the Finals.’ We had to meet these guys back in the NBA Finals. 

And when we reach the NBA Finals, and we got back to that locker room, we all ran to the locker room, we went straight off the bus to the locker room, we went to the ceiling, the money was still there. And you have to remember. There were so many teams going in and out of that locker room and no one [knew] there was a $10,000 stashed on the ceiling.” 

As fairytale-like as it may sound, something does not seem to be adding up. The timeline  2007-2010 does not match Perk’s description of this event. Because, in 2007, Celtics did not play the Lakers during Christmas but met them in the 2008 Finals. In 2008, Lakers did play the Celtics during Christmas but did not meet in the 2009 Finals.

Finally, in 2009, the Celtics and the Lakers once again failed to meet during Christmas but played the 2010 Finals against each other. Was Perkins using this incident as an allegory for Doc Rivers’ influence on the team? Maybe or maybe not.

Kendrick still stands by Doc Rivers after he was fired as Sixers coach

Kendrick Perkins, even 12 years after last playing for Doc Rivers, still stands by his old Celtics boss. In May this year, Rivers was fired by the Philadelphia 76ers after several playoff collapses and second-round exits. The Sixers fired Rivers after his third straight exit from the Eastern Conference semifinals last season.

Following this move, Kendrick Perkins expressed his anguish and disappointment for removing Rivers from his coaching role. He blamed James Harden and his serious commitment issues for the Sixers’ loss. Perhaps, Perk still has faith in his old boss the same way Doc motivated him to win the 2008 championship.