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Doc Rivers Says Clippers 'Really Looking Forward To' Resuming NBA Playoffs
August 28, 2020
The NBA postseason is still postponed, but there will be basketball again soon. Players have agreed to resume the postseason, and some form of new action toward ending systemic racism and creating social justice will likely occur.
While the games themselves may not feel as important as the work the NBA is doing off the court, that doesn't mean players aren't ready to get back to the game they love.
Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers acknowledged his team is "looking forward" to resuming its first-round series with the Dallas Mavericks.
"They are really looking forward to it," he told Fox Prime Ticket on Thursday. "Yesterday, was a very difficult day though. Like their emotions were all over the place. They thought it was over. It was just a really tough day for all of them."
Rivers said he thinks the NBA will form a group focused on voting, police reform and social justice.
The coach has been one of the more outspoken leaders inside the NBA bubble following the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Sunday. Rivers gave a tearful testimony on being Black in America on Tuesday. The following day the NBA postponed the postseason after the Milwaukee Bucks refused to come out of the locker room.
Milwaukee is 40 miles north of Kenosha, where Blake was shot seven times in the back by officer Rusten Sheskey as he walked to his car after allegedly trying to de-escalate a dispute between two women. The 29-year-old Black man is expected to survive but is paralyzed from the waist down. It's unknown if the condition is permanent.
Inside the NBA bubble near Orlando, Florida, players demanded action. As they holed up in the locker room, the Bucks called the lieutenant governor and attorney general of Wisconsin to seek justice on behalf of Blake. Later on, all players inside the NBA bubble met to discuss their options.
It was a rough evening across the board. Rivers, however, took pride in the moment, sharing his thoughts with Clippers guard Lou Williams once the meeting concluded.
"Man, what a good tough day," Rivers told Williams. "And he was like 'what the heck is that? What's a good tough day?' And I said 'you had one yesterday. Some day you will look back on this and you will understand that.'"
As the league prepares to move forward, the results of those good tough days will be telling, one way or the other.