Clippers’ Rivers in spat with Warriors
Coach jabs ‘sensitive’ foes
LOS ANGELES — Clippers coach Doc Rivers fired the latest verbal volley between Golden State and Los Angeles on Monday when he addressed the Warriors’ Klay Thompson having ripped the Clippers over Rivers’ comments about luck being involved in Golden State’s NBA title.
“I’m really surprised how sensitive they are about it,” said Rivers. “They are the champions, so they should just be the champions.”
Rivers recently told Grantland that there was luck involved in Golden State’s winning the championship because the Warriors didn’t have to play the Clippers or the San Antonio Spurs in the playoffs. But reporters told Thompson that Rivers had called the Warriors “lucky.”
“Ha ha, that sounds really bitter to me,” Thompson said this month before going on to reference the Warriors’ having won three of four games against the Clippers last season. “If we got lucky, look at our record against them last year. I’m pretty sure we smacked them.”
The rivalry will resume tonight at Staples Center when the Warriors play the Clippers in an exhibition game.
Asked about Rivers’ latest comments, Thompson said Monday, “I don’t want to talk about Doc. I’m sick of talking about that dude. Sorry, man.”
Center Andrew Bogut chimed in on his NBA Australia blog.
“Most of the comments made by us were tonguein-cheek — just joking around,” Bogut wrote.
“We didn’t take it too seriously; it’s just interesting hearing it from a team that hasn’t been there.”
Warriors interim head coach Luke Walton said he was OK with seeing a little chippy play between two competitive teams.
“It’s up there,” Walton said of the Warriors-Clippers rivalry. “I didn’t know until I got up here. It’s a real rivalry. Two teams that don’t like each other, and it’s hard to find in today’s modern NBA game.”
MONDAY’S GAMES
Cavaliers 103, Mavericks 97 at Cleveland: J.R. Smith scored 19 points and the Cavaliers avoided a winless preseason, finishing 1-6. John Jenkins scored 26 points for Dallas (0-5).
Hornets 94, Bulls 86 at Charlotte, N.C.: Kemba Walker scored 22 points, Jeremy Lin added 18 points and eight rebounds, and the Hornets defeated Chicago. Jimmy Butler had 18 points for the Bulls.
Celtics 111, Nets 105 at Boston: Rookie Terry Rozier scored 16 points and had six assists to lead the Celtics over Brooklyn on Nets coach Lionel Hollins’ 62nd birthday. Bojan Bogdanovic led the Nets with 18 points.
Rockets 120, Pelicans 100 at Houston: James Harden scored 20 points to lead the Rockets past New Orleans. Ryan Anderson had 23 points for the Pelicans.