Doc Rivers Ejected As Clippers Fall To Nets 127-122 In Double OT

Doc Rivers was called for two technical fouls in the first overtime, and the Los Angeles Clippers coach saw his team fall to the Nets 127-122 in double-overtime in Brooklyn on Tuesday night.

Doc Rivers Ejected As Clippers Fall To Nets 127-122 In Double OT

Sean Kilpatrick scored 31 of his career-high 38 points after the third quarter to lead Brooklyn to the victory, and the Nets snapped a seven-game losing streak.

The Clippers began the game without Blake Griffin, ended it without Rivers and dropped their third straight by giving up an 18-point lead, which drew great ire from their head coach.

”We were walking around like we done something and that bothers me because we’ve done (nothing). We haven’t done (anything),” Rivers said. ”For us to walk around against a team, that to me is playing their hearts out every night just to win one game, us to walk around like we done something, it bothers me on a basketball level.”

Chris Paul had 26 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds for Los Angeles, although the best guard on the floor in crunch time was Kilpatrick, who also had a career-best 14 rebounds.

Brook Lopez added 27 points for the Nets, who trailed 86-68 with 2 minutes remaining in the third quarter.

”We were down 20, then next minute you know we just kept chipping it down,” Kilpatrick said. ”Then next minute I knew we were down four, and I was like yo, it’s on now. It’s game time.”

 DeAndre Jordan had 21 points and 23 rebounds for the Clippers, who rested Griffin, their leading scorer, ahead of Thursday’s game in Cleveland.

 The Clippers (14-5) started 39-year-old Paul Pierce, who has played in just two games, in place of Griffin. Pierce had played just 17 minutes all season but logged 29 minutes in this game.

Los angeles became nervous by the end, however.

Rivers was tossed late in the first OT, and had to be held back by his own players and assistants as he attempted to get at referee Ken Mauer. The coach appeared to be upset over a call on the other end of the floor; he walked out of the coaching box and almost all the way to the Nets bench.

Mauer said crossing over midcourt was an automatic technical, and the second was for language and behavior.

Rivers missed Kilpatrick’s masterful finish, which he capped with a three-point play with 13.5 seconds left.

The Nets, still playing without point guard Jeremy Lin, ended a skid that started with a 127-95 loss at the Clippers on Nov. 14.

The Clippers’ J.J. Redick made a 3-pointer in his 75th consecutive game, thus tying one of Stephen Curry’s streaks for sixth-longest in NBA history.

 The Nets (5-12) will next host the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night.

 NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 29: Head coach Doc Rivers of the Los Angeles Clippers argues with referee Ken Mauer #41 after a technical foul call against the Brooklyn Nets in overtime at Barclays Center on November 29, 2016 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.

Article by Pablo Mena