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NBA PLAYOFFS ROUND ONE: WARRIORS v CLIPPERSApril 27, 2014Doc RiversOAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: Game Four Warriors – 118 Q. Doc, the Warriors got off really fast in the first quarter. Was it that they were playing great or was it just that your team was dealing with other things? COACH RIVERS: I think they were playing great. I think you always gotta leave it at that. Once the game starts, there's no excuses not to play and to play like we played. That's my fault. It really is. I gotta do a better job. Whatever the distractions, whatever, I gotta do a better job. I didn't do my job tonight. I take that personally. Q. You talked all week about reminding your team they're playing the Golden State Warriors. Did you simply feel they were playing the Golden State Warriors today? COACH RIVERS: I don't know. I just know it's my job as a coach to get them ready, and I just didn't feel like I did the right stuff. I have to go watch the game again. But it's my job. Players want to play right. They want to do right. And, you know, I thought I did the right stuff to get them ready, and I really didn't. And so I have to do a better job. Q. Not to belabor this point, but you had several points in foul trouble. Do you think the emotions of everything maybe contributed to that? COACH RIVERS: Listen, it could have. I mean, I'm not going to deny that we had other stuff. Listen, I just believe when the game starts, the game starts and nobody cares anymore. Golden State surely didn't care. It's like when a player plays with an injury. They don't care they're injured, they're going to come out and try to attack you. If we were injured physically or mentally the other team didn't care, and they really shouldn't care because it's a competition. And we didn't handle the competition right tonight. Q. This was all obviously unchartered territory. I don't know if yesterday and the night before when it started to come out if you thought it would take days‑‑ COACH RIVERS: Didn't know. Q. ‑‑ to work through, and what's your thought now after playing a game? Are you looking at much longer than ‑‑ COACH RIVERS: I don't know. We're going home now. And usually that would mean we're going to our safe haven. And I don't even know if that's true, to be honest. But I knew I can get to them. And I know they want to do right. And like I told them: The game's on me. My fault. It's my job. I gotta do a better job getting these guys ready to play basketball. And if it's because of the other thing, it's still my fault. It really is. I'm the coach, and my job is to get my players to get ready to play. And I didn't do my job. Q. You've played eight games against each other. You've each won four. Granted, you have the physical advantage, perhaps, and you have the home‑court advantage going home. But how tough is it? You played in enough of these things, coached enough. How tough is it to finish off a series like this? COACH RIVERS: We knew this was going to be a hard series. We knew it before the series started. The teams are evenly matched. We have some physical, they have some skill. Their shooting is the best we've seen maybe ever or in years and you have to deal with it. And the games we've done a good job of controlling it, we've won. The games that we didn't, they've won. So we have home court, but I don't know if home court even matters in this series. I think the team that plays the best, trusts the best, has the best focus, all the little things, will win this series. I think focus is a big thing in this series. And we didn't have it tonight. Q. (Off microphone) played pretty well in the first three games. Why wasn't he able to get off tonight? COACH RIVERS: I don't know yet. Watch the tape. Mark must have done a wonderful job getting him free. Which I think they did a lot of things. And then we must have done some bad things defensively. I know with our switches, we didn't communicate much at all defensively. We broke a lot of our coverages today and some of the things they did they made some changes and they were better. Q. Coach, what strategic problems does their small starting lineup present for you that a normal lineup wouldn't? COACH RIVERS: I don't know if it does. It's not like they've not played that lineup most of the series anyway. So it's the same lineup they've been playing. They just started it today. I just thought they were tougher than us today. I thought they were the more physical team. I thought they were tougher. I would have voted all five of their starters on the All‑Defensive team if I could vote today. Really they were up in us. They pushed us around. They pushed us, grabbed us, held us, knocked us down, got every offensive rebound, got all the 50/50 balls. I just thought they were the tougher team and it wasn't even close. Should have been a first‑round knockout. Q. I know as a professional you put blinders on and tunnel vision, but have you been able to do that considering everything that's happened? There's a bigger issue than basketball going on. COACH RIVERS: It is. At least I'm trying. I can tell you that. I thought I had. I clearly did not. And like I said, I take that personal. Listen, I know what's going on. I get it. But we still have a job to do, and we didn't do our jobs tonight. And so I think it starts at the top and it starts with me. Q. Before the game you said this was an individual thing and your job was to see which guys‑‑ COACH RIVERS: There's too many of them. Q. ‑‑ weren't functioning. Was DeAndre Jordan in that category? COACH RIVERS: I don't know. I think we all‑‑ I just didn't like our spirit tonight. I liked it today. I liked it before the game. I was just wrong on it. And I understand it. I can't blame them for that. But that's where I keep saying that's my job. I have to find a way. Q. Doc, you've coached in Boston, which like being in the fishbowl or being under the microscope. Does it make it a little easier being in LA with all the stuff that's been going on also lately to be calm, because you seem‑‑ I know beneath the surface there's a lot going on, but you seem pretty calm and pretty focused. COACH RIVERS: I don't know. I'm sure ‑‑ I'm old. Hell, you're around a lot and you've seen a lot. I just know at the end of the day I've got a job to get our team right no matter what's circling. So I think that's important for our guys. They have to see that. And I told them that after the game: I gotta do a better job. I said, You guys were great. We'll figure it out. Q. What can you do differently? In your mind what do you feel you could do differently? COACH RIVERS: I don't know yet. I need to watch the game again, and I just need to self‑evaluate and see what we can do as a staff. Like I said before the game is they're getting pulled in so many directions, so we have to figure out how to pull them in one direction. And then we'll be back in the series. Q. Were you included in or made aware of the decision to wear the black armbands and to take off‑‑ COACH RIVERS: I knew about it. I didn't voice my opinion. I wasn't thrilled about it, to be honest. But if that's what they want to do, that's what they want to do. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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