Michael Jordan.
12-08-2013, 03:11 PM
CLEVELAND -- After his team's third loss in its last four games, Los Angeles Clippers (http://espn.go.com/nba/team/_/name/lac/los-angeles-clippers) coach Doc Rivers called his players out for "pouting" in their 88-82 loss against the Cleveland Cavaliers (http://espn.go.com/nba/team/_/name/cle/cleveland-cavaliers) and said they're not where they need to be "maturity-wise."
"We did a lot of pouting in the game," Rivers said Saturday. "You can't play that way. You have to keep playing. I always call them emotional hijacks, and we had a lot of that going on. That happens, but you have to be able to pull yourself out of it individually or as a group, and I don't think we did a good job of that."
More on the Clippershttp://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/nba/med/trans/lac.gifFor more news, notes and analysis of the L.A. Clippers, check out the Clippers Report. Blog (http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles/clippers/)
Rivers has been critical of the Clippers' body language since the opening of training camp and has been talking to them about focusing on the game and not the score.
"When we become a good team, if we become a good team, it will be because we miss 30 shots in a row and you wouldn't know it," Rivers said. "We just keep playing. You get some bad calls on you and you just keep playing. Right now we're not at that point maturity-wise. When we go bad, we start thinking bad. That's an area we have to grow in. …You can preach it but it's a habit and you have to get over it. There's been times where we've fought it and did good job, and this is one of those nights where we didn't."
Rivers wasn't met with many detractors in the locker room, although Blake Griffin (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/3989/blake-griffin), who had 10 points and 10 rebounds and got into a shoving match with Cavaliers center Anderson Varejao (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/2419/anderson-varejao), said players were more frustrated than anything.
"I wouldn't say pouting," Griffin said when Rivers' comments were relayed. "I think guys are frustrated and they want to play better and they want to play well. I guess we have to do a better job of playing through that and trying to keep better body language and a better demeanor, but that's tough."
"We did a lot of pouting in the game," Rivers said Saturday. "You can't play that way. You have to keep playing. I always call them emotional hijacks, and we had a lot of that going on. That happens, but you have to be able to pull yourself out of it individually or as a group, and I don't think we did a good job of that."
More on the Clippershttp://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/nba/med/trans/lac.gifFor more news, notes and analysis of the L.A. Clippers, check out the Clippers Report. Blog (http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles/clippers/)
Rivers has been critical of the Clippers' body language since the opening of training camp and has been talking to them about focusing on the game and not the score.
"When we become a good team, if we become a good team, it will be because we miss 30 shots in a row and you wouldn't know it," Rivers said. "We just keep playing. You get some bad calls on you and you just keep playing. Right now we're not at that point maturity-wise. When we go bad, we start thinking bad. That's an area we have to grow in. …You can preach it but it's a habit and you have to get over it. There's been times where we've fought it and did good job, and this is one of those nights where we didn't."
Rivers wasn't met with many detractors in the locker room, although Blake Griffin (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/3989/blake-griffin), who had 10 points and 10 rebounds and got into a shoving match with Cavaliers center Anderson Varejao (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/2419/anderson-varejao), said players were more frustrated than anything.
"I wouldn't say pouting," Griffin said when Rivers' comments were relayed. "I think guys are frustrated and they want to play better and they want to play well. I guess we have to do a better job of playing through that and trying to keep better body language and a better demeanor, but that's tough."