We criticize Doc Rivers a lot. But it could be worse.

Patience, young grasshopper. It’s a virtue, they say.

And Doc Rivers has it in spades.

There can be no denying Doc’s patience, after Doc told reporters yesterday he wouldn’t make any lineup changes despite the Celtics’ overwhelmingly mediocre play. While Doc is standing by the starters who won him a championship, here’s a look at how some other coaches might have responded while coaching the Celtics to a similar prolonged spell of losing.

Don Nelson – After two losses, Nelson would have clashed with Rajon Rondo, infuriating the rising star and forcing him to ask for a trade.  By the fifth loss, Nelson would have had half the D-League playing for the Celtics, with a starting lineup including Cartier Martin, Diamon Simpson and Antonio Anderson.

Stan Van Gundy – Van Gundy would have gone through larynx surgery by now, after spending two months ruining that voice box of his.  He then would have been re-admitted into the hospital a second time, this time following a heart attack.  During his second trip to the hospital, he would have been screaming, “It isn’t me who needs heart surgery! It’s Vince Carter!”

Mike Dunleavy – Dunleavy would have signed Steve Novak, just so he could insert him, completely cold,  into a tie game with less than ten seconds remaining.

Jim O’Brien – Desperate for a lack of perimeter shooting off the bench, O’Brien would have traded for the multi-talented Andray Blatche.  Then, he would have transformed him into strictly a three-point shooter, and taught him a little shimmy to perform after big buckets.

Flip Saunders – Saunders’s first move would have been to install a 24/7 security team inside the Celtics’ locker room.  After that, he would have screamed about how his team was pissing all over its legs, and reminisced with KG about Mark Madsen.

Mike D’Antoni – Upset by having the NBA’s first-ranked defense at his disposal, D’Antoni’s first move would be firing Tom Thibodeau.  “We try to score around here, and we aren’t concerned with anything else,” D’Antoni would explain.

And finally…

Phil Jackson – In between LSD trips, Jackson would have found the time to recommend a nice book to each player on his team.  For Pau Gasol, the book would have beem, “How a Seven-Footer Learns To Cope with Being Soft.”  For Lamar Odom, “What to do When You Get the Ugliest Sister.”

It remains to be seen whether Doc’s stubborn unwillingness to make changes will be the right move in the long run, but it’s safe to say he’s handled losing better than some of these other coaches would have.

You can say what you want about Doc, but staying loyal to his team and having faith that his players will pull it together certainly beats signing Steve Novak as an end-of-game specialist.

Remember when the New York Knicks claimed Nate Robinson was held out of a game due to flu-like symptoms, even when all signs pointed to him being kept from playing because he was involved in an imminent trade with the Boston Celtics?

Turns out he was actually sick.

“Y’all thought he had the blue flu, but he didn’t,” Doc Rivers told the Boston Herald. “He actually had the flu. So all you skeptical writers, he was telling the truth. How about that, an athlete telling the truth.”

Robinson’s sickness will likely keep him out of Sunday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks, but he should be available for Tuesday’s meeting with New York. That’s right, Robinson’s old team.

I hope with all my heart that Robinson scores in bunches, blowing kisses at Mike D’Antoni — who benched Robinson for many games this season — after every bucket. I want him to dunk on David Lee’s head, then wink over at his old coach. Or maybe steal the rock from Chris Duhon every time he tries to dribble. “Sorry, Coach D., but Chris Duhon is horrible. Not just bad. Horrible. I don’t know what in the world you were thinking when you played him instead of me.”

But that’s only if he feels better. Doc Rivers told the Herald the illness was pretty bad.

“He would love to play (last night) if he could,” said coach Doc Rivers before the Celts met the Trail Blazers. “He was in the hospital and all that – IV’s, dehydrated.”

Robinson was still looking for a way west.

“We were trying, and he’s just literally not feeling up to it,” Rivers said. “It’s funny, (Thursday) before the game he was feeling good. It was probably more adrenaline from being traded. He was excited, and then he hit the wall. He was trying to figure out a way to take the physical and get on a plane and make it.

“And right after the game (GM) Danny (Ainge) called me and said, ‘There’s no way this guy should be not only playing, he shouldn’t even be on an airplane.’ ”

Here are a few neat Celtics stories that came out today. Hope you enjoy.

Nate Robinson sucks up (ESPNBoston)

Rivers talked to Robinson Thursday and shared what would be expected of the fifth-year guard, who is expected to serve as the backup point guard behind Rajon Rondo, but also provide some of the scoring flare he was known for in New York.

“[The call] went well, but it was more one-sided with me talking and him just sucking up for minutes,” joked Rivers. “It went well, he asked a lot of good questions about the defense, his role, all that stuff. I can’t wait to get him here and get to work with him.”

Nate Robinson is trying to get off on a better foot with Rivers than he ended with Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni. Something tells me Nate’s sick of all those DNP’s he was racking up.

Doc Rivers’ attempts to keep the mood light (the Globe)

Said Allen, “We were saying how it’s a lot of guys in grocery carts this past month, because a couple of us have been shopped left and right.’’

That morning at breakfast, just to gauge the tension, Doc Rivers played a small joke. He called a few players up one by one, as if bearing bad news. When they got there, he told them he just wanted to say, ‘Hi.’ ’’

“All the guys who had been mentioned in trades, I thought they would get nervous,’’ Rivers said. “It was a good joke.’

Imagine J.R. Giddens, Bill Walker and Eddie House when they got called into Rivers’ office. They probably just thought they were going to get a simple “hi.” Not exactly.

J.R Giddens’ tattoo still has meaning (WEEI)

You have that shamrock tattooed behind your ear. What’s next?

With the shamrock, it took me 22 years to get drafted to the NBA and the Celtics were the first team that gave me the opportunity to go on and play professional and follow my dreams and my heart. Every one of my tattoos means something so that’s always going to be my first, so the shamrock stays.

I wonder where the tattoo of his first girlfriend is.