Rowan Kavner
LOS ANGELES – If he has to pick, head coach Doc Rivers favors rest over repetition.
The Clippers don’t practice much, particularly during a jam-packed December that’s already featured 13 games in the first 23 days, and the majority of practices that were originally scheduled never happened.
Rivers has always believed in saving his players’ legs during the season. He even debated resting some of his starters during this most recent stretch of three games in four nights, but his starters talked their way into playing.
“We have our own internal stats that we try to keep, but it’s a guessing game,” Rivers said in regards to sitting players. “It’s so individual. It really is. I probably learned that in Boston because I had older players. Kevin (Garnett), if he went over a certain minutes in a row, he couldn’t recover back.”
Rivers: "We’re Very Close To Going On An Amazing Run" →The taxing December schedule features back-to-back games or games every other night from Dec. 6 through the rest of the month, so fatigue will natural set in. But it won’t be because of practices in between games.
Shootarounds still occur prior to games throughout the stretch, but without many practices, the players are saving as much energy as possible. The downside is fewer repetitions than some other teams would utilize, but Rivers doesn’t believe a lack of practices makes it hard to see what the Clippers look like or can be.
“No, I think we’re going to be really good,” Rivers said. “We’re pretty good now. But this season is a little difficult. You’ve got to get through the season…It’s a marathon, and it is what it is.”
Six practices were on the original schedule for December, most of which were skipped over. It’s likely the team practices again at least once or twice before the end of the month now that they’re returning home for a long stretch.
The Clippers players appreciate that Rivers understands the importance of keeping them fresh, but J.J. Redick said the lack of practices does affect the team at times.
“It’s difficult to stay sharp with not only (not) practice, but we haven’t really been able to do a whole lot in shootaround,” Redick said. “We’ve had a lot of walkthroughs in our hotel or just meeting (at STAPLES Center). So the schedule, it absolutely affects you, because there’s slippage on both ends. Your execution isn’t as sharp, but it happens.”
Blake Griffin said the lack of practices can make it “a little bit” more difficult to correct problems, but he thinks the nucleus of the team should know how to play together. For the most part, though, the Clippers are fixing their mistakes through game repetitions. That’s got to be the case anyway with 15 games in the final 25 days of December.
“We’ve been together, at least our starting group’s been together, a long time,” Griffin said. “With this coaching staff and these defensive principles, we’re doing pretty well. I think we can be better, but it does help tremendously to have practice.”
The Clippers have come up just short in three of their last four games. Griffin said it’s always something small in each game the Clippers need to change or do better. While the Clippers were playing in Atlanta, the Warriors were already waiting for them in Los Angeles.
“It’s tough, but it is what it is,” said head coach Doc Rivers. “(The Warriors) are really set up nice, but that’s OK. Adversity’s good. You get it through it, you learn from it, you get tougher.
“To me, bring it on. That’s what I always say. Adversity’s good. Deal with it, because at some point, we’re going to have that on our side. Right now, the schedule’s against us. There will be a point where the schedule’s in our favor.”