Doc’s coaching not an issue

With 3:47 left in yesterday’s crime against Celtics [team stats] nature, the deficit had shrunk from 18 points to 11, leading the New Jersey Nets to call a timeout. The game presentation folks at the Garden opted for the John Belushi soliloquy from “Animal House” - the one in which he implores his frat brothers to fight back.

The latest sellout crowd loved it, but on a day when most everything went awry, this, too, was a flawed maneuver. Right film, wrong clip.

Better to show the scene where Boon tells Katy, “A new low. I’m so ashamed.”

The New York Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers, Chicago Bulls, Charlotte Bobcats (twice) and your Boston Celtics are notches on the belt of the now 6-52 Nets.

The few. The embarrassed.

With two days until the C’s play next, there will be ample time to CSI the hell out of this team on the heels of the 104-96 loss to New Jersey. Every suspect will be investigated, from roster architect Danny Ainge to Martha Coakley’s campaign manager.

In the wake of Thursday night’s collapse against the Cleveland Cavaliers, there were calls for coach Doc Rivers’ ouster that will only increase in volume and number after this debacle. But while Rivers isn’t Red Auerbach, such shot selection would seem to be from the Antoine Walker catalog of fine masonry.

Rivers isn’t perfect, but the coach isn’t this team’s problem.

To those who claim the fault lies not in the stars, we say only this: The hell it doesn’t.

The Celtics have gone 13-16 since Christmas Day because the well-heeled people in sneakers neglect to follow directions. And when one player doesn’t make a defensive rotation, it looks like The Three Stooges trying to squeeze through a doorway at the same time.

Quibble with Rivers’ substitution pattern if you like, but there is no reason that whatever quintet is on the floor should choose not to execute the plans as set forth by the staff.

Don’t take our word for it. Take injured captain Paul Pierce [stats]’s. He put it very plainly at the start of this month down in Washington.

“It’s like you have the answers to the test and you still fail,” Pierce said during a visit to play the Wizards. “It’s just like that. We know the answers.”

That concept was supported late yesterday.

Asked if this is up to the players, Kevin Garnett nodded.

“I think so,” he said. “That’s what it is. Doc gives us direction, and guys have to go out there and follow the plan and execute. That’s all it is. I’m not going to sit up here and give a whole bunch of excuses. That’s not my style. You know, you lose, you lose. They kicked our (butt) tonight, period. Point blank.

“Players have to do more, including myself. We’ve all got to dig deep and see what we’re made of as a team. Seriously.”

Added Rasheed Wallace: “Oh, definitely it’s in this room. . . . We’re the ones out there on the floor. Doc can only do but so much. So we can’t sit up there and say, ‘Oh, it’s Doc’s fault that we lost or Doc’s not doing this or Doc’s not doing that.’ Doc’s not out there on the floor. It’s the five guys that are out there.”

You will now hear claims that the players have therefore tuned out Rivers, that he’s lost the team. These are fallacies. The players like working for this coach and, as Pierce and others have said, they know the plays and defensive schemes are proven.

It will be said then that the coach needs to motivate them better. But if the dignity of the job and earning the respect of your teammates aren’t enough to make players focus, then it won’t matter who’s telling them what to do.