Celtics Coach Doc Rivers Says He Wants His Players to the "Hate the Heat"

Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

The Boston Celtics came awfully close last season in the NBA Playoffs when they fell to the Miami Heat in six games during the Eastern Conference Finals.

Heading into a new season, Doc Rivers hopes to lead the Celtics back to the promise land. More drama is expected with LeBron James coming off his first championship and Ray Allen leaving Beantown to head to South Beach.

With that, Rivers wants his Celtics players to literally hate the Heat. Even more than the Los Angeles Lakers.

"Honestly, I don't care about the Lakers...I have my eye squarely on Miami. I come up to my players during the year-they're in the facility now-I bring up Miami every single day to them," Rivers said, via Celtics Life. "I want them to hate them. I want them to beat them. That's gotta be our focus."

It's gonna be a fun NBA season.

Josh Dhani is the founder of FootBasket. You can read more about him at his website. Follow him on Twitter @joshdhani.