Greivis Vasquez scored 15 points and chipped in 11 rebounds in the New Orleans Hornets' comprehensive 90-78 victory over the Boston Celtics Wednesday night.
This game was very special for Celtics head coach Doc Rivers, because he faced his son and rookie Austin Rivers, who was playing for the Hornets, for the first time. His son rushed towards him after New Orleans' victory.
"I was about to say something and I didn't; I caught myself. I forgot he was on the other team," the Associated Press quoted the Celtics coach as saying. "It's just a strange dynamic. I didn't enjoy it, honestly. I know it's neat for everyone else, but as a father, I don't know if I enjoyed that."
Rivers junior won his first game against his father's team and the Hornets won their sixth in the last seven to climb themselves out of bottom of the Western Conference.
"I knew it was a different game and I didn't try to pretend like it wasn't, and I think that helped me," Austin Rivers said. "Now that this is out of the way, it will be a lot easier. I can just go out there and not worry about, 'Oh man, this is weird.'"
For the Hornets, Al-Farouq Aminu added 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds; Robin Lopez had 17 points and six rebounds, while Ryan Anderson finished with 10 points.
For the Celtics, Kevin Garnett was the leading scorer with 15 points, Paul Pierce scored 12 points with 10 rebounds and Rajon Rondo finished with 11 assists but Boston could not take their six-game winning streak any further.
Boston started off well and outscored the Hornets 25-20 in the first quarter. New Orleans dominated the second by scoring 24 points and stopped the Celtics to 18 to enter the second half with a one-point lead.
The Hornets had only two 3-pointers from 17 attempts in the game and they shot 31 out of 71 attempts from the floor.
"If you look at our record, we're in no position to laud or get happy about a couple of wins," New Orleans coach Monty Williams said. "We've got a lot of work to do. I'm more concerned about our next practice - how our guys prepare and come focused for that practice. That will tell me about our growth."
Rivers scored eight points in 3-of-6 attempts from the field. Before Doc Rivers, Butch van Breda Kolff, Mike Dunleavy and George Karl had faced their sons as a coach in an NBA game.
"My dad didn't really say anything to me," Austin said. "Just before the game and after the game that he loved me and just told me to go out there and compete."
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