Austin Rivers comes to Boston to take on Dad’s Celtics

It has to be both a proud moment and a little bit surreal for Doc Rivers to be looking at the Celtics scouting report for the New Orleans Hornets game Wednesday and see his own son, Austin Rivers, right there in black and white.

Doc is pretty excited to see his son and have his team face off against him, he told CSNNE.com .

“I just thought they were way too nice in the scouting report today,” quipped Doc Rivers who added, “It’s a strange thing. As a father, it’s nice to see him. The only drawback of him being in the NBA is I haven’t been to a game. And I miss that a little bit, to be honest. But other than that, it’s really cool.”

The scouting report should say “attack Rivers when he is on the court, he is the weakest link in their rotation. Ball pressure can undo him.”

Rivers is having a historically bad rookie season. He is averaging 6.2 points a game on 32.8 percent shooting. He has turned the ball over too much and struggled on the defensive end. He has a PER of 5.4. All of that should have him learning his craft in the D-League but the Hornets are giving the No. 10 overall pick a chance to learn at the NBA level but he is struggling.

Not that it matters to supportive family members. Rivers said their rooting interests are torn.

“When Austin’s not playing, they’re Celtics fans,” said Doc Rivers. “When Austin is playing, they’re Hornets fans or Austin fans for sure.”

Boston has won six in a row and is starting to find their defensive groove. There are a lot of steps to take and a lot of season to go, but for a stretch they have started to look like the team many expected to be — a team that could push the Heat in the East.

But the Hornets are 4-1 in their last five as well, with Greivis Vasquez and Eric Gordon playing well in their backcourt. You can start to see just how special Anthony Davis can be.

And you will see very little Austin Rivers, who has gotten less than 10 minutes a game the last couple contests as he slides out of the rotation. With Gordon back, he is soaking up Rivers minutes and producing.

But that’s not what Doc will see. He will see his son.