Through all the ups and downs, Clippers head coach Doc Rivers remains cool, calm and collective. On December 30th, the Clippers experienced one of their worst games thus far this season. An atrocious (107-88) blowout loss to a solid Phoenix Suns team.
But Rivers looked at it as just being a loss and another day to improve as a team. It’s about mentally moving on and learning from their mistakes. He doesn’t think twice about the past.
“The other night was the other night, that’s gone I don’t think about it anymore,” said Rivers. “We’re just trying to establish a standard of play.”
When Rivers left Boston and vowed to take the head-coaching job in Los Angeles, he knew it would not be a bed of roses. Despite the roster being gifted with exceptional talent, Rivers still had a lot of work to do.
His main focus has been getting the player’s mindset in the right direction.
“I talk about this to our guys all the time”, said Rivers. “Enjoy the difficulties of the season and challenges like this will make you better for later.”
And he’s most definitely changed player’s way of thinking, and given them the confidence they needed to become better basketball players. Clippers center De Andre Jordan is having one of his best seasons ever under Rivers.
Something we didn’t see when he played under Clippers former head coach Vinny Del Negro. Blake Griffin has clearly taken his game to another level.
Jordan presence on the floor is very significant; he’s averaging over 30 minutes per game. While Griffin is posting 20-10 numbers this year. What a difference a year and a new coach makes.
Both players had the potential to be great players in the league, but needed the right person by their side. Rivers does more than spending long hours breaking down tape. He acts as a role model bringing out the best in athletes through motivation and leadership.
Rivers is taking it game by game and when he notices something the team needs to work on, he’ll address it in practice. Losing isn’t the issue with Rivers; it’s correcting the mistakes to get better results for the future.
“We had 36 assists on Wednesday night, and you could see what we worked on yesterday at practice with ball movement,” coach Doc Rivers said. “It was quick. The ball was flying around the floor, and that makes us really good. It makes it harder to guard Chris and Blake because you can’t key on those guys. I think we got away from that a little bit, so it’s good to get that back.”
Tamara is a graduate of Cal State Los Angeles where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Journalism. Tamara is passionate about covering sports. She has covered the NBA and Major League Baseball routinely for the past several years. A Southern California native, Tamara developed her skills as a sports journalist while working for various Los Angeles-based news publications.