The LA Clippers have had championship expectations all season, but they're currently locked in a heated battle with the Dallas Mavericks that could see them eliminated in the first round. Doc Rivers and his team know that, but they've been questioned relentlessly over the last couple of days about their defensive struggles, the odd rotation decisions, and Paul George's shooting woes.
Doc Rivers appeared pretty fed up with some of the questions he was receiving in Tuesday evening's pregame press conference.
First, Rivers was asked if he looked at Game 5 between the Clippers and Mavs as a ‘do-or-die' scenario. He didn't like that question one bit.
“No, every game does [feel like do-or-die],” Rivers responded. “I don’t even know where that question is coming from. So — I don’t understand, no. Every game in the playoffs you look at it like do or die. So I’m not sure where that question is coming from.”
Asked Doc Rivers if today feels like a do-or-die game for the Clippers – “I don’t understand that question. It’s the playoffs. Every game is do-or-die, so I don’t know where that question is coming from.”
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) August 25, 2020
Immediately after, Doc Rivers was asked to elaborate, if he could, on his defensive switching philosophy. The Clippers' defense and lack of communication defending the pick-and-rolls have burned them all series.
“I’m not gonna explain our philosophy,” Rivers quickly responded. “I’ll just fax it over to Rick Carlisle for you so he can have a great idea of exactly what we’re doing every time. Let me just say, again, that we have not executed that we’ve been trying to do for the most part. I’ll just leave it at that.”
The most snippy Rivers has been all season, however, came on a question regarding who on the team was lacking urgency this deep into the season.
“You said the other day you guys had a lack of urgency, but I’m not sure Kawhi is that guy,” the reporter asked Rivers. “So who would be a guy or a couple guys that should be bringing that?”
Rivers looked around in disbelief before locking eyes with the Clippers' PR member. “Do I have to answer that?” he asked.
Doc Rivers then looked back at the reporter and responded.
“You think I’m gonna just start ratting out my players? We’re team, we all do it as a group. The urgency means team urgency. You get that?
Reporter – “You said the other day you guys had a lack of urgency, but I’m not sure Kawhi is that guy so who is?”
Doc Rivers – “Uhh… I mean… You think I’m gonna start ratting out my players? We’re team, we all do it as a group. The urgency means team urgency.”#Clippers pic.twitter.com/dB77ul6Hj2
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) August 25, 2020
Doc Rivers has been frustrated with the Clippers all series long, citing ‘self-inflicted wounds' as the primary reason this series is tied at 2-2.
“We could have played better,” Rivers said after Game 4. “But again, we've had a lot of self-inflicted wounds. I sound like a broken record, but there's obviously things we need to do as a staff, as well. But we absolutely just need to execute better on both ends.”
Game 5 between the Clippers and Mavs is set to tip off at 6PM PST on TNT. Whichever team wins will be one win away from advancing to the Western Conference semifinals, where they'll take on either the Utah Jazz or the Denver Nuggets.
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