Rivers said he hasn't been paying much attention to his team's Atlantic Division foe, but he's not surprised by Anthony's hot hand.
WALTHAM -- If the regular season ended today, the Boston Celtics would open the playoffs against the New York Knicks, winners of 11 straight games, and Carmelo Anthony, averaging 43.7 points over his last three contests.
Head coach Doc Rivers said he hasn't been paying much attention to his team's Atlantic Division foe, but he's not surprised by Anthony's hot hand.
"I really haven't," Rivers said before Boston's practice Saturday. "I know he's scoring a lot. But you probably could have ran that tape two years ago about Carmelo and I would have said, well, I haven't seen him play but I bet he's scoring a lot."
Not even Anthony's blistering run -- his last three games: 50 points against Miami, 40 against Atlanta and 41 against Milwaukee -- seemed to surprise Rivers much.
"Because he's a professional scorer, he really is," the coach said. "(Kevin) Durant is number one as far as me visually, and Carmelo is right behind him. If I had to pick the two best just pure scorers in the league, they would be one and two."