Doc Rivers’s nine-year tenure as Celtics coach ended more than a decade ago, following the 2012-13 season.
He’s coached two NBA teams since: the Clippers — where the Celtics sent him for a first-round pick after he elected out of being part of a rebuild — for seven years and the Sixers for three.
Yet when he calls a reporter to talk about his new role as a color analyst on ESPN’s top NBA broadcast team and the Celtics’ Christmas Day matchup with the Lakers, it’s a 617 number that pops up on the screen.