Los Angeles Clippers: Doc Rivers should be NBA Coach of the Year
By Jamaal Artis
The Los Angeles Clippers have surpassed every expectation placed on them in large part due to the terrific coaching by Doc Rivers.
The Los Angeles Clippers took out their rivals the Los Angeles Lakers Monday night by the score of 113-105. They not only effectively ended the Lakers season, they also solidified themselves as the seventh seed in the Western Conference playoff race.
It was the Clippers sixth win in eight games and a testament to their coach Doc Rivers. The Clippers find themselves closer to the third seed (2.5 games) than out (4.5 games); something that was unfathomable to think about last October.
When the season started few media outlets and pundits picked the Clippers to have a winning record let alone be in the playoffs.
After all the last of their “Lob City” players had been traded away or lost to free agency and with the coming of Lebron James to Lakers, the Clippers were an afterthought in Los Angeles and the NBA.
This season the Clippers have fared well offensively — top 10 or 15 depending on the metric — defensively they’re middling ranking around 18th in defensive rating. They don’t have any all-stars and are a mix of youth with rookies Shamet Landry and Shai-Gilgeous Alexander and veterans like Patrick Beverley and Lou Williams.
Arguably the best player for the Clippers this year was Tobias Harris (who had a legitimate case to be named an All-Star), and the Clippers traded him at the trade deadline for salary cap space and draft picks.
Just to recap, Rivers had to figure a way to blend a young team with veterans, a front office looking to the future, and lost his best player. Yet despite this, the team consistently wins and Rivers has them on the cusp of an improbable playoff appearance.
The team’s ethos was echoed by the outspoken Beverley after the win against the Lakers (h/t SB Nation).
"“That’s who we do it for: The people in the back…The blue-collar people who don’t have a lot given to them. Who work for everything they deserve. And that’s what we’re doing right now. We do it for them.’"
That blue-collar work ethic is a direct reflection of Rivers, who as a player was a tenacious point guard who did the little things on teams with more glamorous players.
Next. Clippers won the trade deadline. dark
Going forward the Los Angeles Clippers seeding may change, but what can not be questioned is how this team’s success is tied to Doc Rivers. That’s why he should be the NBA Coach of the Year.