LA Clippers manager Doc Rivers said his players are ready to continue the NBA postseason after “they thought it was over” after Wednesday’s thrilling players’ meeting.
“Oh, they want it,” Rivers said when asked if his team is ready to move forward during an interview Thursday on Fox Prime Ticket. “They can’t wait. But yesterday was a very difficult day. As if their emotions were everywhere.
“They thought it was over. It was just a really hard day for all of them.”
Rivers spoke during Wednesday night’s bout to players at the request of Oklahoma City point guard and NBA Players Association president Chris Paul. The Clippers, along with the Los Angeles Lakers, initially voted not to continue the season when players were questioned during the match, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The players met again on Thursday morning and voted in favor of resuming the playoffs, a source told Wojnarowski.
“To be fair, that vote we weren’t saying, ‘We don’t want to play basketball,'” the Clippers guarding Landry Shamet, featured on “The JJ Redick Podcast,” said Wednesday night. “It was just a survey of what we thought was best done. That’s what our team came up with.”
“Obviously things were moving very fast,” Shamet added of how he didn’t feel safe when he went to bed Wednesday night. “A lot of people had to take a step forward and try to figure out the best thing for us to do. But one thing that I think we didn’t fully take into account was how high the emotions were, how tense the situation was and what it was like. really the first time that we players as a whole have been able to sit back, process and think, talk and have a really good dialogue in the bubble about all of this.
During Wednesday night’s meeting, Rivers said players expressed “many different views” in the aftermath of Jacob Blake’s shooting, which sparked protests and infuriated many players and coaches. Blake, a 29-year-old black man, was shot seven times by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, a city about 40 miles south of Milwaukee.
On Wednesday in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, the Milwaukee Bucks made the historic decision not to play Game 5 of their first-round streak against the Orlando Magic. The Houston Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder, Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers all followed suit and decided not to play their games on Wednesday as well.
“I loved it,” Rivers said of the Bucks’ decision not to play Game 5. “I obviously wish they’d alerted all the players so they weren’t taken by surprise, but I thought the action. it was the right one, especially for what it was. I thought the only team that needed to act immediately was Milwaukee, assuming we were going to act, and again this is our choice. “
Rivers said the meeting between players and coaches that night after the postponed matches made him realize how much the isolation within the NBA bubble has affected players and their emotions.
Clippers guard Paul George talked about how he underestimated mental health inside the bubble when he admitted he experienced anxiety and depression and sought help from a team psychiatrist, teammates and those close to him. to get out of a recent crash in shootings.
“It woke me up a little bit about some of the things I’ve been missing since I was in this bubble,” Rivers said of the players who expressed their views during the match. “You forget that being in the bubble is difficult. And some of these have surfaced as well. I knew it was difficult but listening to some of these guys talk, just mental awareness, we have to be a little more sharp about that too.”
Rivers added, “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that everyone in this bubble seems to be a little bit more emotional and I’m not kidding. That’s true. I think part of the effect of being confused together every day, it had that effect on. all “.
Rivers was incredibly excited and reacted to tears after the Clippers’ Game 5 won over Dallas on Tuesday night when asked about Blake’s shooting video. Rivers said he was reminded once again how black men have to fear for their lives because of police brutality and racism.
Rivers’ explosion of frustration, anger and sadness over the latest police shooting of a black person went viral, with the video of his comments also being shared by President Barack Obama.
Rivers said players had a hard time knowing if their social justice messages and comments made an impact due to their isolation on the NBA campus in Florida.
“I think being here, you feel like you’re doing a job but you don’t see the job, you don’t know what you’re doing,” Rivers said. “Because you’re in this bubble, so you’re a little bit far from the real world. I thought some of the guys said they know they’re doing the right thing here, they know they have a platform here but they feel like they’re not part of the movement here, because they don’t see the results that all the things they said actually produced [something] because I’m here. “
Rivers said voting, police reform, and social justice are three areas he and the players want to impact as they move forward in the fight for change.
“I think we’re going to form a group today to try to narrow down the scope and understand exactly what we want to do,” Rivers said of the next steps. “But we’re on the right track.”
Rivers said Clippers guard Lou Williams stopped to chat in his hotel room on Thursday and Rivers told his sixth man that these last 24 hours will be something Williams will eventually look back at and understand how much he is. was really impactful.
“Dude, what a beautiful difficult day,” Rivers told Williams. “And he said to me, ‘What the hell is that? What a nice day is hard?’ And I said, “You had one yesterday. Someday you will look back on this and understand it. “
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