Doc and Austin Rivers focus on the game, not the name

Doc Rivers had mixed emotions about trading for his son, Austin last summer.

As reported by A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE, Doc said:

Yeah, I was hesitant. And probably in retrospect you wish you would have done it. But (New Orleans wasn't) going to do it. That was the problem, too. So it wouldn't have happened this summer. And we didn't push as hard as we probably could have.

Doc’s “hindsight is 20/20” trade came to fruition via a 3-team collaboration with Phoenix and Boston last week. The 1st father-son, coach-player scenario was made official.

Austin maintains that playing for his father will be like playing for any other coach – except that, as a child he played board games with this coach and he made no special allowances for his son even then.

From Sam Amick at USA Today, Austin explained:

If I'm not playing well, he's going to sit me. I'm sitting on the bench. It is what it is. He wants to win. My dad's the type of guy when I was five years old, if we played checkers, he would not let me win. That's just kind of how he is. He's not doing any favors for me.

Doc adds that despite Austin joining his Clippers organization, decision-making remains focused on improving and winning games.

Making history – well great. I didn't really care about that. I want to win, and I want to make our team better. And that's my goal whatever I do.

Whether you are a fan of the Rivers clan or not, the dynamic is one of intrigue. As much as a player can say there isn’t added pressure to playing for a parent, Austin Rivers’ numbers for his new team have said otherwise so far.

Via Ben Bolch at LA Times, Austin said:

People aren’t looking at what I do now, they’re looking at the outcome at the end of the year, who is not under contract past this season, so really I have no pressure on me.

The Celtics will get their first in-person look at the Rivers duo and the rest of the Clippers squad this season when they meet this afternoon at 3:30pm EST out in LA.

Steph sidebar: The Clippers aren’t the only ones adjusting to new faces on the bench – though none who are familial – Shavlik Randolph and Tayshaun Prince are expected to suit up for today’s game with Boston. It remains to be seen, how long either will be with the Celtics but they’ll be in the mix today with a front row seat to witness this anomaly continue to unfold.

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