Rockets guard Austin Rivers urges refs to give his dad, Clippers coach Doc Rivers, technical foul
Thursday 14 November 2019 10:07, UK
Houston guard Austin Rivers urged referees to give his dad, LA Clippers coach Doc Rivers, a technical foul as the Rockets rolled to an impressive 103-92 win.
Houston were up two with about two minutes left when Clippers defensive specialist Patrick Beverley fouled out. James Harden made both free throws before grabbing a rebound on the other end and hitting a three to make it 95-88.
Beverley was given a technical foul during a timeout after the play and Harden hit the two free throws.
Doc Rivers was then given two technical fouls and ejected - much to the delight of his son.
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The Houston guard had laughed and signalled for the officials to T-up his father as the Clippers coach argued with officials.
The elder Rivers spent several more seconds screaming at the referees before slowly walking across the court and to the locker room.
Speaking on court after the game, Austin Rivers joked: "I had to get him out of here. That made my night, I'm not going to lie. We got the win, my dad got thrown out… it's a good night."
He was still laughing about the situation after the game and tweeted: "Welp... Thanksgiving is going to be weird".
Doc Rivers said after the game that he was upset with the officials because of a mix up with the number of timeouts. He said that he tried to challenge a play but that it was past the 30 seconds allotted after a play in which to make a challenge. So they told him he didn't burn a timeout on the challenge and he had two remaining. His ejection came after they said he was out of timeouts when he called the timeout where Beverley received his technical.
"We didn't deserve to win with the way we were playing right now offensively or defensively but mistakes like that cannot happen on this level," he said. "That was awful and the response was to throw me out? I didn't swear. I just said: 'This is nuts.'"
The Rockets notched their eighth, and arguably most impressive, win of the season thanks to James Harden's 47 points, his fifth 40+ point performance of the season
Austin Rivers praised Harden for carrying the team on a night where, collectively, their offense failed to sparkle.
"We didn't shoot the ball well tonight. Myself, I couldn't throw a rock into the ocean," he said. "But we kept playing, competing and defending."
"James led the way like he always does. He is the best offensive player I have ever seen, he really is. He is the best scorer on the planet.
"Sometimes you just sit back in awe and watch him take over games. Game after game, it's impressive."
