Rivalry with Warriors May Be What Doc Rivers Needs to Get Clips over the Top
One thing Paul Pierce has learned in his career—in large part from Doc Rivers—is it's not necessarily what you say.
It's how you say it.
Rivers is a master at blurring the line between the two. Truly gifted in his way with words crafting a coherent idea, Rivers is even more adept at how he relays that idea.
Gentler, harsher, less controversial, more politically correct…whatever it is, Rivers can spin it forward or dial it down.
And when he talks about teams other than his Los Angeles Clippers, Rivers generally wants to keep the focus internal. He's always angling for a way to deflect attention where he wants it when it comes to his team.
So, there is a perception that Rivers is not giving the Golden State Warriors due credit for their NBA championship. It's not really because Rivers' words are unfair; it's because he is so skilled at conveying an impression.
"You need luck in the West," Rivers told Grantland before the season. "Look at Golden State. They didn't have to play us or the Spurs. But that's also a lesson for us: When you have a chance to close, you have to do it."
The impression he wants to convey is that the Clippers are worthy—not necessarily that the Warriors are illegitimate. But if Rivers is going to prop the Clippers up in their own and the world's eyes, he logically has to suggest his team can be on the Warriors' level.
The teams, both undefeated, meet Wednesday night in Oakland, California, in a game that is garnering added attention because the teams have been sniping at each other since training camp began.
Klay Thompson called the Clippers "bitter."
Andrew Bogut said on the Fitz & Brooks podcast (via Fox Sports) that the Clippers could kiss the middle finger for which he was getting his title ring fitted.
Stephen Curry sarcastically apologized for the Warriors' run of good health last season.
And Draymond Green compared L.A. to a "female that's just scorned."
Rivers never did call Golden State lucky to win in the simplistic sense, but the way he clouds the issue of the Warriors' success is intended to underline how close the Clippers are to it.
The way the words Rivers pieces together consistently signify his belief that the Clippers could've beaten the Warriors.
And that's good! Should Rivers really be thinking the opposite—that even if his team hadn't totally blown that second-round series against Houston it had no chance in the Western Conference Finals anyway?
Alas, that is the kind of thing that naturally irks the Warriors, who, just like the Clippers, have built up an inferiority complex from being longtime also-rans in a West Coast hoops scene ruled by the Lakers for generations.
While the Clippers just designed a new elongated logo to reinvent themselves again, the Warriors truly earned their stripes. It's natural that the recently crowned champs are proud and even snarky about it.
By the same token, the problem when it comes to any Clipper talking big is that, well, he's a Clipper. No one is scared of a Clipper, no one steps aside because a Clipper is coming, and obviously no one who was a Clipper won a title that way.
That includes Rivers, the coach of the 2007-08 NBA champion Boston Celtics. His way with words is important because the Clippers have needed and still do need reinventing given their embarrassing past.
For the record, here's a direct quote from Rivers back on media day, Sept. 25, that quite clearly puts the Warriors on a pedestal above all: "There was one winner last year—and that's Golden State. They're the only team that can say they did it right. They got it right. There's no other team that can do that."
As straightforward as a Steph Curry swish, right?
Well, yes and no. Remember, Rivers is always working the angles for his side. And in this case, his agenda was not to liken the Clippers to the Warriors, but it was to downplay the negative impact of the Clippers' choke jobs against Houston last season and in Oklahoma City the year before that.
Rivers' pro-Warriors answer came in response to a question asking him what the Clippers learned from those consecutive collapses shy of the Western Conference Finals. And without saying it, Rivers' statement emphasized it doesn't matter if you implode on the precipice or don't even make the playoffs like Oklahoma City, or if you're like the Spurs, whom the Clippers ousted in the first round—you're all losers.
Again, he's amazing at getting people to respond to how he says things, which might be his greatest coaching skill.
In a strange sense, the Clippers have gotten his message. They're known as the whiniest team in the NBA because their leader has taught them they deserve the best.
What Rivers can't do, though, is talk his way to superiority over the Warriors—or anyone else in the league. The Clippers have to be downright good enough, starting with Wednesday night.
But a main ingredient in succeeding is the belief that you are good enough.
If the Clippers ever get over the hump, Rivers' speechmaking will certainly be integral to that process—no matter that it's part brainwashing and part grandstanding.
Indeed, moments before telling reporters during the Clippers' preseason trip to China, "I respect Golden State 100 percent," Rivers remarked how he "was really surprised at how sensitive they are," further painting a picture that the Clippers aren't so far out of the champs' league.
In fact, former Golden State coach Mark Jackson—even though Rivers' Clippers eliminated Jackson's Warriors in the 2014 first round to precipitate Steve Kerr's replacing him—laid the foundation in that very sense. Jackson did plenty wrong, but he did quite well in getting the Warriors to start believing they were worthy enough to be champions.
Now that they are, everyone else—including Rivers—is just trying to get where they got.
Kevin Ding is an NBA senior writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @KevinDing.
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