Doc Rivers fined $25,000 for criticizing officials after Game 2

By Baxter Holmes, Globe Staff

Celtics coach Doc Rivers was fined $25,000 for publicly criticizing NBA officials after the team’s loss Tuesday to the New York Knicks in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.

The league announced the fine Thursday.

After his team’s 87-71 loss, Rivers was livid with some of the calls that went against Kevin Garnett, who had five fouls and was more or less a nonfactor in the game.

“Listen, I thought the fouls on Kevin, first of all they were horrendous,” Rivers said after the Celtics fell into a 2-0 hole in the best-of-seven series, which shifts to Boston for Game 3 Friday.

“And secondly, I thought they had a huge effect on us.

“Kevin had three fouls that . . . I was . . . I mean, him not being on the floor, playing 24 minutes and never getting your rhythm, where you could see, it looked like he was going to have a game, it hurt us.

“That’s just the way it goes. There’s nothing I can do about it now. I thought if it could’ve gone either way on three of those, they all went against Kevin. I think that’s tough.”

Rivers hinted during a conference call with reporters Wednesday that he might be fined for his comments.

“Even [Tuesday], I didn’t think I said much — and that could be a problem,” Rivers said. “Because all I basically said was Kevin getting into foul trouble had a huge impact on the game. That’s not criticizing officials. So, I’ve just got to make sure I focus on our stuff.”