A season that started with an immature fist fight didn't endear Glen "Big Baby" Davis to his employers, and when the 24-year-old shouted a profanity at a fan on Wednesday night, well, that didn't help much either.
"We've been taught you have to take it and you have to keep playing," head coach Doc Rivers said on WEEI's Dennis & Callahan Show on Thursday morning. "I don't think it's a huge step backwards, but it is a step backwards, and Glen Davis has to grow up."
The incident reportedly started when a fan, Scott Zack, called Davis "fat boy." Davis then reportedly turned to the fan and swore at him. Zack said he filed a complaint with the league.
It's something that Rivers said is completely unacceptable.
"I've heard some vile things said to me, said to our players, it's amazing what you hear," Rivers said on the radio station. "You should turn around, point to security, and have them deal with it. When you think about it — and I'm bringing it up because it was two days ago, Martin Luther King's birthday — just think what he heard, and how many times he turned his cheek. If he can do that, why can't we do that on a basketball court? You're not going to win that battle. Let somebody else fight it for you."
It's not the first time that Rivers has urged one of his players to grow up this season. In December, he told The Boston Globe that Kendrick Perkins' technical fouls were equally unacceptable.
"He's just got to get better," Rivers told the Globe. "He's got to grow up."
It's also not the first time that the Celtics have criticized Davis. After the scuffle with a friend, Davis didn't appear to be on good terms with owner Wyc Grousbeck.
"I'm not going to call him 'Big Baby' anymore," Grousbeck said in October. "He's Glen. He needs to act like Glen."
And of course, there was Davis' crying incident last winter, something that will always be brought up in a maturity discussion. So while it's obvious that Davis matured physically at a superhuman pace, his mental side is still playing catch-up.
