The white walls of Clippers coach Doc Rivers’ modest office in Staples Center are bare of pictures. Except for a brown bag holding his fish dinner in a to-go box, his desk is free of clutter.
Rivers is sitting there 90 minutes before tipoff Monday evening but the space is so nondescript it could pass for any coach’s office in any NBA arena. In fact, the more Rivers surveys the locker room, the more he feels it’s 1999 and he’s back in Orlando, Fla.
As a rookie coach that season, Rivers inherited a locker room bereft of stars.