LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 1, 2020

Doc Rivers

Postgame Press Conference

Clippers 126, Pelicans 103

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Doc.

Q. Congratulations on the record win for you.

DOC RIVERS: Thanks. It's the players, obviously.

Q. You want to comment on that quickly?

DOC RIVERS: I didn't know. They told me when I walked in. It was great. Any type of celebration is always good.

For me, I've been very fortunate. I've had unreal players and unreal coaches. I've had great staff and great ownership that have allowed me to coach this long. Under the circumstances, pretty cool.

Any time your name is with Red, you feel very fortunate.

Q. Did you feel like you needed to come out with a little extra something after the way the game ended, the sloppiness?

DOC RIVERS: It wasn't the ending of the Lakers game, it was the game. We just didn't play well. We didn't play with any space. Our spacing was just horrific most of the game. We went over that. Our execution was bad.

Give the Lakers credit, some of that was their defense. But a lot of it was self-inflicted, so we didn't like that.

Q. What does this victory mean for the team?

DOC RIVERS: It just means we got our first victory in the bubble (laughter). You know what I mean? We got to keep growing, guys. We have six more now. Our job is to keep growing and keep getting better for the Playoffs.

Q. When P.G. is running those ball screen actions with Zubac, how difficult is for defenders to really stay attached to him? Do you think he's probably one of the most dangerous guys on ball screen actions?

DOC RIVERS: Yeah, he's so tough. Like, he doesn't need room. He's so big. He can stop on a dime and shoot it. Then with Zub's body, his ability to roll, it just puts a lot of pressure on the defense.

Q. We saw towards the end of the game some of the players started standing up and getting excited. At what point did they start realizing that was a thing that could happen, a franchise record?

DOC RIVERS: It's funny, I didn't know it. I don't ever know stuff like that. It's probably the last thing I noticed. It kept hearing them yelling to take threes. I looked at Lou, asked him what was going on. With a minute and a half left, we're one off the franchise record.

All that kind of stuff... If you get in it naturally, I'm good with it. I don't care much about records.

Q. Pat Beverley, what did his energy bring from the start?

DOC RIVERS: He was awesome. That's why we have him. He was awesome. His spirit alone lifted us. He just makes so many unselfish plays. He's incredible some of the things he does.

Half his points, half the things that happen out there, he gets zero credit for in a stat sheet, yet the meaning for us on the floor is immeasurable.

Q. Kawhi set his career high for a season in assists today. How important has that play making been?

DOC RIVERS: It's been amazing. I thought he set the tone the beginning of the game. You can tell. It's funny, he was just passing, almost overpassing at times. You look up, he still had 14 or whatever at halftime, then he had the assists.

People are going to load up on Kawhi. They're going to load up on P.G. The more we can make them pinpoint passers, the better our team will be.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Doc.

DOC RIVERS: Thanks, guys. Take care.