He really believes it. He said those exact words.

"They'll be fine; I really believe it," said Rivers, standing outside Boston's locker room an hour before last night's game against the Sixers at the TD Banknorth Garden.

Rivers said when a team makes a lot of changes - something he knows a little about after Boston added superstars Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen before last season's NBA championship year - it often takes time to break from a lull.

Sometimes, Rivers said - pointing toward the Nuggets with the recent addition of Chauncey Billups - teams have no trouble adjusting. Other times, it takes a while.

"I think that's the case there with Philly," Rivers said. "By the end of the year, they'll be what we thought they'd be."

Practice? On Thursday, Allen Iverson missed practice with his new team, the Detroit Pistons. Neither the Sixers nor the Celtics practiced on Thanksgiving, but Boston's Allen knows what he would have done had there been practice.

"Yeah, you always come into practice," Allen said. "I'd be driving to practice talking trash. I'd be griping and complaining like a little kid. But you've got to show up. Those are the days you forget about when you win."

Allen said Rivers understands that when there isn't a game on Thanksgiving or Christmas, those days are valuable.

"All of us were thankful to stay home with our families," Allen said.

When asked about the Iverson incident, Rivers said he didn't want to get involved.

Still, if he did schedule a Thanksgiving practice, did he think one of his guys would skip?

"I don't think our guys would do that," Rivers said.

- Kate Fagan