Can Danny?

Following the ridiculous loss to the Bobcats, Doc Rivers explained that what you saw against the Bobcats this Wednesday night is par for the course for good teams. Phil Jackson, he explained, can bench his starters at the end of the game and stick with the scrubs to teach them a lesson because they are contending teams (and apparently can get away with throwing a game here and there). I'm not quite sure how much I by that but that wasn't the most potentially problematic part.
Not verbatim but Doc stated at the beginning of the interview:

I was not tanking the game. I was not throwing the game. Honestly I got to a point early in the fourth quarter, where I looked at my coaches and said We're going to win or lose with this group. I got to the point that I wondered What do we get if we win this game. I was asking on the bench, what do we get if we put those guys back in, Paul and Al, and win this game. At some point, those other guys (the bench) have to play. A little bit.

"Tonight I said screw it, they're staying in. I got bad looks from some of the guys on the bench. I told them No. They aren't going in."

When a team is in the hunt for a top pick and then says something to the effect of, "What do we get out of winning this game?" there's going to be problems. David Stern can not have coaches of teams fighting for Oden and Durant. He can not have coaches admitting to not trying to win the games and intentionally holding out their best players just to teach guys at the end of the bench a lesson.
Hopefully it's nothing but this should, at the very least, draw a harsh warning from David Stern. I don't care if you're Phil Jackson or Doc Rivers, you simply can't admit to not trying your best to win a game.

Also disquieting was the fact that Doc seemed very upset at the second unit and made reference to their bitching about playing time. This brings up the question: are Bassy, Green, and Gomes really complaining THAT much about their playing time? (Doc made an exception for Leon Powe, saying he played well and wasn't part of the offending unit) Is there unrest in the locker room? Bassy is third string which can't make him happy and neither he nor Gerald can be thrilled to see Allan Ray step off the D-League bus and into crunch time minutes. Meanwhile Gomes has played well but been bounced around, losing his starting spot to, at one time or another, Perkins or Scalabrine. Could this be wearing on the young players?

Another concern (which admittedly is one for the conspiracy theorists) is that this could be the first incident in a game of chicken between Doc and Danny. Doc has one year left and doesn't want to be a lame duck coach. I can't imagine Danny wants to re-sign Doc to a long term deal but then again I can't see Wyc and friends being all that interested in firing Doc and eating his salary. So the stand-off begins: Doc wants to get an extension or get fired while Ainge wants him to coach for one year or resign. Danny holds all the cards but that doesn't mean that it couldn't get ugly.