The usually jovial Doc Rivers was not in a jovial mood Saturday night.
Rivers had good reason to be grumpy: Utah Jazz forward Joe Johnson hit a buzzer-beater to hand his Los Angeles Clippers a 97-95 loss in Game 1 of the teams’ first-round NBA playoff series.
21 points off the bench ✔️
Game winner ✔️
Joe Johnson takes Game 1 home for @utahjazz with the @Tissot buzzer beater! #ThisIsYourTime pic.twitter.com/m6RfcCacYE
— NBA (@NBA) April 16, 2017
Prior to Johnson’s heroics, Clippers guard Chris Paul tied the score at 95 with a floater with 18 seconds remaining on the clock. So, after the game, a reporter posed what he thought was an interesting question to Rivers: Would the Clippers coach ever consider telling his team to wait until the game’s final seconds to attempt a game-tying shot, so as to prevent Utah from getting the ball back?
Rivers, though, was having absolutely none of it.
https://twitter.com/SInow/status/853483458739531776
Here’s Rivers’ response:
“Who would do that? Like, why would you ever do that? So, if you miss, the game’s over? That makes no sense. No, no, that is like the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Now, when you’re down two, you try to score. You don’t wait. No. You score. If you can score in one second, you score.”
The reporter’s hypothetical certainly is unorthodox, but holding for the final shot while losing isn’t a completely bonkers idea. Rivers clearly wasn’t interested in changing his viewpoint, though.
“If you can find another coach who can tell you different, I want to meet him,” Rivers concluded.
Thumbnail photo via Isaiah J. Downing/USA TODAY Sports Images
