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Articles tagged: Austin Rivers

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Austin Rivers fined $25K for throwing seat cushion at fan

October 29, 2015
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Austin Rivers

Clippers guard Austin Rivers had a less-than-spectacular season debut against the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night. His final stat line? Three points, two rebounds, one assist, and one fan in the stands hit by a seat cushion.

The 23-year-old was slapped with a fine of $25,000 for throwing a seat cushion into the stands that struck a woman in the fourth quarter of the Clippers’ 111-104 victory at the Sleep Train Arena, the NBA announced on Thursday per Sam Amick of USA TODAY Sports.

Amick also reports that the woman who was hit was sitting in the second row and that she was experiencing noticeable discomfort in her eyes for quite some time after the incident.

As Austin, the son of Clippers head coach Doc Rivers, looks to assert himself this season on a revamped Clippers bench, incidents like this will do his public image no favors, especially as the coach’s son, a Duke product, and a recent declaree that he’s “better than a lot of those dudes” playing on Team USA.

At least the hefty fine means that Doc won’t have to take away his allowance.

H/T Real GM

Austin Rivers: I’m ‘better than a lot of those dudes’ on Team USA

August 14, 2015
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Austin Rivers

As he looks to play a key role off the bench for a loaded Los Angeles Clippers team next season, one thing guard Austin Rivers cannot be lacking in is confidence. Well, it certainly looks like he’s all checked out in that respect.

After watching Thursday night’s Team USA scrimmage, Rivers puffed out his chest on social media Friday morning declaring himself to be better than a lot of the players that participated in the Blue vs. White showcase.

After a solid amount of backlash to the tweet, the 23-year-old attempted to clarify his words.

Nevertheless, the point had been made: Austin James Rivers (with his career average of 7.0 points per game) really thinks that he’s more deserving of a roster spot than some of the guys on Team USA Basketball this summer.

While I admire the competitive fire and Most Improved Player ambitions of Doc’s son, he simply has no argument right now. Austin is a sub-40 percent shooter for his career (including less than 33 percent from deep) and the Clippers were actually 13.8 points BETTER per 100 possessions last season when Rivers sat on the bench as opposed to when he was on the court. With all of the deserving names that were left off the roster because of the sheer volume of talent in the NBA right now (here’s one prime example), I’m not even sure Rivers would merit an invite if there were 100 of them to go around instead of 34.

Perhaps Austin may have been referring to the 11th hour fill-ins that were chosen to play in the game like Amir Johnson, Arron Afflalo, and C.J. Watson. And just maybe, we might be able to talk ourselves into a legitimate rationalization for the merits of Rivers over end-of-bench ragamuffins like Mason Plumlee and Michael Carter-Williams. Heck, maybe this is all just Rivers venting his frustrations at Plumlee beating him out as the Coach K/Duke nepotism selection.

But for now, the discrepancy between the talent on Team USA…

…and Austin Rivers…

…is fairly considerable.

You’re not quite there yet, Mr. Rivers. Not quite yet.

*Stats courtesy of NBA.com*

Austin Rivers failed to box out Danny Green at horrible time (Video)

April 29, 2015
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Austin Rivers played so well for the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 4 against the San Antonio Spurs that Chris Paul credited him with the team’s victory. On Tuesday night, not so much.

Rivers scored just two points in 12 minutes off the bench in Game 5, but it was what he didn’t do that was costly for the Clippers. With just seconds remaining and LA trailing by two, Rivers neglected to box out free throw shooter Danny Green.

Austin-Rivers-box-out

Green was able to keep the rebound alive despite Chris Paul racing in and grabbing him by the arm. After Green tipped the ball, Kawhi Leonard secured the offensive rebound and the game was essentially over.

If Rivers did his job and boxed out Green, there’s a chance the Clippers could have secured the rebound with four seconds left and a chance to tie. The likelihood of them converting was not great, but Rivers’ lack of effort didn’t help.

Between the basket interference call on DeAndre Jordan and this technical foul against Chris Paul, there was plenty of controversy down the stretch.

H/T David Locke

Chris Paul credits Austin Rivers for Clippers’ Game 4 win

April 26, 2015
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Austin Rivers

Chris Paul gave credit to Austin Rivers for the Clippers’ 114-105 road win over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 4 of their playoff series Sunday.

“Game ball goes to Austin Rivers,” Paul said in an interview with ABC after the Game 4 win in San Antonio. “This is his first playoffs. What he did out there, it really just motivated our team. It’s a hell of a game by Austin.”

Rivers, who has been the target of criticism for most of his pro career, scored 16 points on 7-for-8 shooting in 17 minutes off the bench. His big game came at a time when the Clippers were being picked apart for having a thin bench. Rivers gets criticized as a result because his dad, who is the team’s coach and GM, traded for him instead of adding another big during the season.

Though Rivers scored 11 points in a Game 3 loss Friday, he wasn’t much of a factor the two previous games.

For one day, all seemed right with the team’s bench, and that was mostly thanks to Rivers’ effort.

Photo: Austin Rivers/Instagram

Rasheed Wallace yells ‘Ball don’t lie!’ after Austin Rivers misses free throw (Video)

November 21, 2012
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Apparently Rasheed Wallace decided to come out of retirement to join the New York Knicks for two reasons — to win a championship and to scream at people who miss free throws. The 2012-2013 season is only a few weeks old, but we can already say heckling opponents after missed free throws is Wallace’s thing.

As you can see from the video above that @Jose3030 shared with us on Tuesday night, Wallace yelled “Ball don’t lie!” after Austin Rivers missed a free throw in the first quarter of the Knicks’ win over the New Orleans Hornets. The miss came after Wallace was called for a blatant reach-in foul on Rivers, so we’ll have to assume he didn’t mean “ball don’t lie” in the sense that it wasn’t really a foul and that’s why Rivers missed.

Last week, Wallace came up with his own nickname for Arron Afflalo and yelled it after he missed a free throw. Is this something that we’re going to be seeing all season long? It certainly looks like it.

Austin Rivers: The Celtics are better off without Ray Allen

September 20, 2012
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Although he may not have been their top priority heading into the offseason, the Celtics would have preferred to keep Ray Allen. They certainly didn’t want him to sign with the best team in the Eastern Conference, but such is life in the NBA. Once Allen signed with the Heat, Boston turned it’s attention to former Rockets guard Courtney Lee as a replacement.

Austin Rivers believes the Celtics are better off with Lee. During an appearance on ESPN’s “First Take” on Wednesday, Rivers explained how he thinks Allen’s departure benefits both teams. He said the Heat will benefit in obvious ways by Allen spreading the floor and had the following to say about his father’s new squad.

“And I think the Celtics got better, because first off it was disappointing to (see Allen) leave because he was a part of that whole buildup to the Celtics again, but now you have a better defender in Courtney Lee, who is a great on-the-ball defender and someone who is going to add to the great defense the Celtics play already,” Rivers explained.

“And then you have Jason Terry, who is instant offense, something the Celtics need when you have older players like KG and Paul Pierce that get hurt. So when you have guys that are going to be inconsistent, not due to how good they are but how old they are, and the fatigue of a long season, you have guys who can come in and give you instant offense.”

Mix in the fact that Allen and Rajon Rondo had a known chemistry issue and Rivers has some pretty good points. Allen was a huge part of the Celtics philosophy, but at the very least they get much younger with the 26-year-old Lee. Austin also believes the Celtics are the only team in the East that can challenge Miami, and that may be true now that Dwight Howard has gone to the Lakers. Whether Allen tips the scale in favor of one team or the other remains to be seen.

Is Seth Curry glad Austin Rivers left Duke?

July 14, 2012
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Even as a freshman, Austin Rivers was arguably Duke’s best and gutsiest player last season. But now Rivers has left the Blue Devils behind for the NBA’s money-be-greener pastures. He’ll be tag-teaming with Anthony Davis on the Hornets this season.

But that doesn’t seem to matter to Duke guard Seth Curry, who believes the Blue Devils can be even better next year despite Rivers’ departure. Why?

“We like each other,” Curry told CBS’s Shawn Krest. It’s not that the Duke players hated each other last season, Curry elaborated, but “we weren’t close like this.”

“The biggest thing is trying to be more of a family,” Curry also said to Blue Devil Nation (via The Dagger). “Just get to know each other off the court. This summer we’ve been really hanging out a lot more and getting to know each other. It seems like everyone likes each other more this year, so it should be a fun year.”

It’s important to note that not once did Curry utter Rivers’ name in any of those remarks. But the incredible hubris that Austin “Call Me ‘Sub Zero’ Before I Play a Single College Game” Rivers is known for has been unmistakable. Even he’s acknowledged it. He’s also been accused maybe once or twice of being a ball hog. And none of that is really conducive to Coach K’s brand of ball.

So, Curry might not have mentioned Rivers, but, directed at his former teammate or not, his comments appear to confirm that Duke is better off without Rivers’ wannabe-Kobe mentality.

Photo: Peter Casey-US PRESSWIRE