Doc Rivers says he feels the same about Austin Rivers’ injury as he does other players’
Clippers’ head coach Doc Rivers talks thing over with Chris Paul in first half of game against 76ers.
Reporting from Philadelphia — And now for the downside to coaching your son. Or maybe not.
Clippers Coach Doc Rivers was asked Monday whether the father part of him felt differently about Austin Rivers sustaining a broken left hand.
“Not really,” Rivers said, prompting laughter from reporters. “I mean, really. He’s one of my players and I’d feel bad if it was Chris [Paul] or anyone else. You still have the same emotion. You want your players to be healthy.”
The Clippers received some good news when a hand specialist determined Austin Rivers would not need surgery on the injury to his second metacarpal that he suffered against the Minnesota Timberwolves last week. Doc Rivers said his son had required surgery when he broke his right hand as a rookie, costing him the final five weeks of the 2012-13 season.
The initial timetable for Rivers’ latest injury was four to six weeks. That was the same estimate given for Blake Griffin last month after the power forward broke his right hand while punching team assistant equipment manager Matias Testi.
Michelle Carlson, an orthopedic surgeon at the New York-based Hospital for Special Surgery, said the timetable given for Rivers’ return was realistic and that he should have no limitations given her experience with similar injuries.
“They tend to heal quickly and be very strong and the likelihood of re-injury should be very low,” said Carlson, who has not examined Rivers.
Doc Rivers has made a habit of not mentioning which players are unavailable whenever he addresses his team before games and said that won’t change no matter who else might go down.
“What is it going to do?” Rivers said. “I mean, maybe I’m too simplistic, not smart enough. I mean, really. I just don’t know what that gets you. I don’t dwell on the negative stuff. Like, it is true that we have those things, but we’re going to lace it up and one thing I have learned in this league, the other team could care less, so I don’t want my team thinking about it either.”
Clippers guard J.J. Redick (4) reacts to not getting a foul call during the first half.
Illustrated man
In case you were wondering, J.J. Redick’s wife is fine with the new tattoo that covers the length of his left arm. Actually, she’s more than fine with it.
“My wife is probably the biggest fan of the sleeve and gave me the go-ahead,” Redick said on his latest Yahoo Sports “The Vertical” podcast.
The tattoo features four evangelical symbols, each representing a tenet of Christianity. There’s a winged man, a winged lion, a winged ox and an eagle.
Redick said he had wanted the tattoo for about five years and finally forged ahead after running into singer Adam Levine last summer on a golf course in Cabo San Lucas. Levine set Redick up with a tattoo artist out of the Bay Area, who has traveled to Los Angeles for three sessions lasting a combined 14 hours. There’s only about an hour’s worth of work left to fill in a few spots.
The job was complicated by some previous forearm tattoos.
“Rather than covering or erasing them,” Redick said, “I get to live with tattoo regret for the rest of my life.”
Those who dislike the new design won’t deter Redick.
“For me it’s a very personal thing and means something to me,” he said. “It’s for me and not for anyone else.”
Twitter: @latbbolch
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