The Prodigal Son

Or

You never step in the same Rivers twice

The Austin Rivers Redemption game. That’s what your children’s children will call this game, squirreled away in their underground cities, huddled around the ruins of the Neo-Staples Center, listening anxiously for sign of their dread foes, the Mole People  (Yes, they’re Lakers fans. This is the apocalypse people). It was the key moment in a Clippers Championship run riddled with key moments, from Paul’s hamstring game winner over the Spurs, Blake Griffins back to back triple doubles, and Jamal Crawford’s 70 point quarter (pending).

Or more likely, the Clippers will not win the Championship, Chris Paul’s hamstring game hangs around but little else. And people bring up Austin Rivers ugly game costing turnover in game 2 (and potentially 5, 6, and 7) as frequently as his big game 3. But for now, there is only the present of this series. All worlds are possible, and the world we have now is about the least likely one you could have picked for this series.

Austin Rivers played absolutely out of his head against the Rockets in game 3.

He did it all. Transition baskets, finishing lay ups in traffic, knocking down 3 pointers, making nifty hesitation dribble drives, Tony Parker-esque floaters, and stirring the pot right in Jason Terry’s grill. It was improbable. It was good. And it was fun to watch. Rivers shot 10 of 13 from the floor and totaled 25 points, including 13 in the 3^rd quarter that put the Rockets down for good.

There was little else of note in this game. The Rockets played bad defence and looked less and less like a team that was even worthy of dark horse Championship talk. Griffin threw the ball away way, way too much in this game. With seven turnovers in this game, this is not a performance that would have beaten the Spurs. They already beat the defending Champs though and didn’t need to be in perfect form against this Rockets team that is suddenly looking pretty terrible.

But really this game was all about Austin Rivers’s performance and there is little else to say. (Sorry JJ Reddick, we expect you to be fantastic even if you rained down hell with 31 points on 11-of-14 shooting, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range).

The Rockets didn’t even manage to keep the game close, which is important. With such a thin rotation the Clippers managed to keep their wounded point guard on the bench for more than half the game, and DJ sat with six minutes to go in the 4^th. This might not seem like a lot, but with a seemingly long finals run ahead of them, this is critical for such a shorthanded Clippers team.

Things I Noticed

• The Staples Center was chanting Austin Rivers. I had a dream where this happened once, but it was the Lakers crowd and they were doing it sarcastically
• Austin Rivers “stirred the pot”, stealing an opposing All Star’s celebration after one good performance is hubris in the extreme and punishable in the eyes of The Basketball Gods, expect bad things for Rivers the Younger in game 4