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Austin Rivers: Jamal’s The Best Teammate I’ve Ever Had

Rowan Kavner Digital Content Coordinator

PORTLAND, Ore. – Austin Rivers tried to hold it in. Much like the Clippers in Game 6, he succeeded until the last second.

Rivers had just scored 21 points, despite taking an elbow to the face that required 11 stitches in the first quarter. His teammate, Jamal Crawford, had just scored 32. But Crawford’s late shot attempt fell off the mark with a chance to tie, and Rivers’ half-court attempt to tie again fell short.

In the blink of an eye, the Clippers went from healthy first-round favorite, to completely depleted underdog, to somehow coming seconds away from forcing a Game 7, to seeing the season end in Portland. As Rivers sat at the postgame podium following a courageous performance, thinking back to the adversity he faced personally and the adversity the Clippers faced as a team, reminiscing on how Crawford rubbed off on him became the emotional breaking point.

“He’s the best teammate I’ve ever had, man,” Rivers said, getting choked up. “A lot of people doubted me when I came to L.A. a year ago. People thought I was just getting a chance because of my father. Jamal believed in me, man.”

By all basketball accounts, the relationship might not have worked.

Both guards like to work in isolation, taking defenders 1-on-1 to score. That can make the ball sticky, which isn’t particularly conducive to a ball movement, spread-the floor offense the Clippers’ backup unit would need to thrive.

But, they figured it out.

As time passed, a Clippers bench that finished in the bottom third in the league in points per game and points allowed per game last season turned into a reserve unit that jumped to No. 7 in points and No. 12 in points allowed this year. 

When the Clippers nearly beat the full-strength Thunder in Oklahoma City toward the end of the season, with the majority of Clippers starters resting back in Los Angeles, it was Rivers and Crawford scoring 32 points apiece.

And, with the Clippers’ season on the line Friday night, it was the backcourt duo nearly providing the sufficient amount of magic to keep the season alive. Crawford scored 32 points again, and Rivers couldn’t even see out of his left eye following his gritty performance, which included eight assists and six rebounds as well.

“I was trying,” Rivers said. “We were all fighting together.”

After Crawford’s late missed shot, Rivers went up to the 16-year veteran and told him he’d live with that all day. And, after the final buzzer rang, Crawford walked over to Rivers and told the young point guard to keep his head high.

Not that the walk over to him was long.

“He’s honestly become like a little brother – his locker’s even next to mine,” Crawford said. “With him, it’s got to be hard. Everything, all the stuff, especially how small the world is, I’m sure he hears the stuff like, ‘He’s only here because of his dad.’ No, he earned his way. He’s fought through it, he’s stood tall through everything. He never backed down or tried to use his dad as an advantage. He worked his butt off, and we have a great relationship.”

And, it’s a relationship that grows more with nights like Friday.

The Clippers’ superstars were already out. The “healthy” Clippers all fought through some sort of ache, pain, sprain, or bruise. No one would’ve blamed them for packing it in, trailing the majority of the night with their backs against the wall and everyone already counting them out.  

They never quit.

“We were this close to getting a Game 7,” Rivers said. “I don’t know what else to say. We left it all out there.”

Maybe Rivers and Crawford are no longer in Los Angeles next season. Maybe both are back in Los Angeles next season. On Friday night, nothing but the present mattered, along with everything leading up to Game 6.

The seven stitches below and the four stitches above Rivers’ eye, which looked more like a boulder than a seeing device when 48 minutes had passed, all added to the grittiness of the performance, which added to the emotions of the night.

Somehow, tears began to escape the swelling, as Rivers, looking more boxer than basketballer, couldn’t hold it in any longer. He cared tremendously, as did the many other Clippers fighting back tears in an emotional postgame locker room.

DeAndre Jordan, off to get X-Rays after hurting his ankle, never quit. J.J. Redick, battling a sore heel all series, never quit. Wesley Johnson, fighting plantar fasciitis in both feet, never quit. And Rivers, bleeding through the makeshift stitching above and below his eye, serving as the symbol of a Clippers team that fought blow after blow before coming up just short, never quit.

“I’ve been so proud of Austin,” Crawford said. “He probably takes more stuff outside our locker room than anybody else…I’m just proud of him. I’m really, really proud of him.”