ON THE SUNDAY of Thanksgiving weekend, LA Clippers head coach Doc Rivers used his team's halftime locker room meeting for one intended purpose.
"He just challenged me," Clippers rookie Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said.
The Clippers found themselves down 15 points to the Portland Trail Blazers. On the video screen inside the visitors locker room: a single possession that occurred in real time just a few minutes earlier. In the sequence, Blazers guard Damian Lillard stood along the left sideline, guarded by Gilgeous-Alexander.
"Dame just threw him like a piece of trash, and it was obvious," said Clippers assistant Sam Cassell, who works most closely with the rookie on the dark arts of being an NBA point guard.