We’re barely a week into 2014-2015. It’s too early for legitimate worry let alone panic at the prospects of teams failing to meet expectations, and it’s too soon to hop on the bandwagon of squads outperforming them. Everyone can play in the NBA, and early-year results often prove anomalies as the regular season grind really gets underway come December. But Doc Rivers doesn’t care for such reasoning. After the Los Angeles Clippers confirmed their coach’s skepticism by getting destroyed by the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night, Rivers held nothing back while critiquing his team’s overwhelmingly dispiriting start to the season.
Instead of describing the post-game meeting his team held in the locker room to the media, Rivers continued lashing out at the Clippers’ lack of of will and drive. As their coach fully realizes, talent isn’t what’s holding LA’s best team back.
From Marc Spears of Yahoo Sports:
“I didn’t say much,” Rivers said. “I just let them blow smoke up each other’s [expletives] because that’s all they did in my opinion. But I let them just talk it out. But I think if you’re going to talk, you got to be real. I am not a fan of group meetings unless they are real group meetings.
“I said something is going to happen [Wednesday night], and it’s going to be good or bad for us. We are going to find out exactly what we need to find out. And what we found out is [the Warriors] are way better than us right now.
“If this was a playoff series, we’d lose in four games. It would be a destruction.”
The Clippers entered last night’s contest at 3-1, but struggled while dispatching the Los Angeles Lakers, Utah Jazz, and injury-ravaged Oklahoma City Thunder. After being embarrassed by the undefeated Warriors, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and company find themselves 0-2 against winning teams.
While LAC’s normally elite offense has been stagnant to start the season, Rivers is most concerned with his team’s play on the other end. And as much as poor rotations and technique have doomed the Clippers defensively, their coach is adamant general effort and intensity are problems at least as big.
“I’ve never been in a game where a team scored 65 points and we had one foul,” Rivers said about his Clippers (3-2) trailing 65-42 at halftime. “That, to the core of me, bothers me to no end. I have never seen that before. And I think the foul was late and it was a mistake. It probably wasn’t a foul. So for me, I’m doing something wrong.
“That’s just soft as you can probably get in a game. One foul? At halftime? Are you [expletive] kidding me?”
“…I don’t think we are bringing anything into the games, period.
This humiliation and ensuing frustration was a long time coming for Los Angeles. The Clippers were dreadful in preseason play, and though Rivers maintained he was unconcerned by their labors during the exhibition slate, it was obvious to anyone watching that Doc was more troubled than he was letting on.
Looking for a statistic that is emblematic of the Clippers’ all-encompassing issues? They rank dead last in rebound rate, grabbing a pathetic 44 percent of available boards. Griffin had just one rebound in 31 minutes of play against Golden State, and was noticeably unwilling to bring the physical presence necessary for success while facing the Warriors.
Match-ups between these Western powers are characterized by unrelenting intensity. Steve Kerr’s team had it from the opening tip, while Rivers’ squad tried to find it with the game already underway. Against a Golden State team absolutely humming on both ends, though, the Clippers simply aren’t good enough to exercise that mindset. Perhaps no team in the league is at the moment.
Rivers is frustrated and rightfully so, but a part of him is undoubtedly glad Los Angeles took a beating. NBA coaches love stressing process over results, and the Clippers were getting nothing out of beating easily inferior squads while playing poor basketball relative to their talent. Perhaps an all-out rout at the hands of their biggest rivals will be what rights their sails.
After all, the season is only nine days old. The Clippers have plenty of time get back on course.
What do you think?
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